12 Aug 2015 07:00
For Immediate Release 12 August 2015
LXB RETAIL PROPERTIES PLC
(the "Company" or the "Group")
Further Pre-letting at Rushden Lakes
LXB Retail Properties Plc has exchanged contracts with Primark for a pre-let of a 53,000 sq ft (c27,000 sq ft on ground floor) store at the Group's Rushden Lakes investment.
Rushden Lakes which comprises 244 acres of which 31 are developable is located alongside the A45, opposite the existing Waitrose Food and Home store at Rushden. The location already has a planning consent for retail and leisure and when developed it will be an exemplar shopping and leisure destination.
Primark is the fourth major pre-letting at Rushden Lakes and joins a tenant line-up which already included M&S, House of Fraser and H&M and brings the total amount of ground floor space pre-let to a minimum of c100,000 sq ft (170,000 sq ft including mezzanine space). Following these four significant pre-lettings, the Group is now very well placed to let the remaining space at competitive rents to the retailers who wish to trade alongside these key anchor tenants.
The Group is targeting a spring 2017 opening for Rushden Lakes. Site remediation works are already in progress and the Group is on schedule to appoint the main building contractor towards the end of the year. The aim is to hand over stores to the larger tenant occupiers for fitting out in October 2016.
LXB also continues to make significant progress in discharging the other pre-completion conditions of the forward funding with The Crown Estate which was announced in April 2015. These are largely concerned with securing pre-lets and modified planning permissions and the Group remains confident that the contract will become unconditional in the early part of 2016.
For further information please contact:
LXB Adviser LLP Tel: 020 7432 7900
Tim Walton, CEOBrendan O'Grady, FD
J.P. Morgan Cazenove (NOMAD) Tel: 020 7742 4000
Bronson Albery / Paul Hewlett
Buchanan Tel: 020 7466 5000
Charles Ryland / Vicky Watkins