MERRION FIGHTING FIT IN ITS FIFTYFIRST YEAR

Tue 23 Sep, 2014

Town Centre Securities PLC (TCS), reports it is in the final stages of a £50m transformation project of the The Merrion Centre in Leeds. The shopping Centre, which celebrated its 50th birthday earlier this year, began with an investment of £2m in 1964, the equivalent of £30m today. Arnold Ziff, founder of TCS in the late 1950’s, had the foresight to create the first purpose built shopping centre in the UK. TCS PLC now reports that the value of the Centre is nearly £140m.

This stage of the investment programme will see the complete refurbishment and extension of the Merrion House office building alongside the completion of the Arena Quarter Leisure Development and extensive refurbishment and upgrading of the multi-storey car park.

Merrion House will be undergo a £30m make-over commencing in 2015 which will transform the twelve storey building including a complete recladding together with a glazed extension and airy atrium. The new Merrion House will offer 170,000 sq ft of office space, including 50,000 sq ft in the new extension, it will also accommodate Leeds city council’s busy one-stop facility serving the whole Leeds community.

A flurry of new tenants brings further success to TCS’s recent Arena Quarter Leisure Development that runs adjacent to Leeds first direct Arena. So far £12m has been spent on this area of the Shopping Centre, which is now 76% let with only two units still available. The two most recent tenants include LAB Bar and Bulgogi Grill.

LAB bar, which opened last month, has invested £400k into the 2,691 sq ft new bar and eatery, which sits directly opposite the first direct Arena. With a 20-year lease agreement, the Jones Bar Group, who own another eight bars across Leeds, have created 15 new jobs with this opening.

Bulgogi Grill, which also opened last month, offers a unique Korean BBQ culinary dining experience and has invested over £250k into the opening and created 10 new jobs.

The heart of the shopping centre continues to flourish by attracting national brands. European coffee chain, Caffe Nero opened its doors for the first time in July and national clothes retailer, Ethel Austin opened in June. The Centre as a whole is now 98% let and has received over 7.2 million visitors so far this year, 10% more than last year.

Edward Ziff, Chairman and Chief Executive of Town Centre Securities PLC and son of the late Arnold Ziff, comments; “Much of the success of the Centre over the last 50 years has come from my father’s determination and tenacity. We are delighted that alongside our brand new tenants, a number of our key occupiers have decided to commit themselves to the long term future of the Centre, that’s a real testament to my father’s legacy. One of the biggest reasons why I think Merrion succeeded was that back in those early days my father saw the value of car parking and he built a 1,100 space car park, which was twice the size that the city corporation had earmarked. It is fitting that in its 51st year the car park has seen TCS’s biggest Merrion investment to date.”

£8m is being invested into the renovation of the Merrion Centre’s multi-storey car park. It is managed by Town Centre Car Parks (TCCP) and will be completed this December. In a bid to modernise and upgrade the facility, comprehensive refurbishment plans include structural repairs, new lifts and stair case, wider parking bays, improved signage and bay markings, LED lighting, improved security and ticketing systems as well as a new facade treatment with feature lighting. The transformation of the car park will also include contactless payment pay stations as well as customer only pedestrian access gates and electric car charging bays and more disabled spaces.

The future continues to look bright for TCS’s Merrion Centre. Next year will see a £5m investment into the refurbishment of the hotel, which closed last year. The Arena Quarter has established itself as the entertainment destination and has brought with it a flurry of trade to those businesses within it. The Arena itself has been recognised as one of the country’s top five iconic buildings alongside the Gherkin, Sage, Etihad Stadium and Birmingham Library and has an estimated £25m annual economic impact.

Edward concludes; “If you had bought £1,000 of shares in TCS in 1969, when records began, today it would be worth approximately £550,000, quite an impressive statistic. There has been a large amount of investment into the Centre, especially with the development of the Arena Quarter Leisure Development.

“I firmly believe that our success has been down to our ability to be agile and adapt to our tenants and customers’ needs. When there is much debate and legislation concerning sustainable development, the Merrion Centre for me stands out as a shining example of what can be achieved. We will continue to evolve and we will continue to contribute to the regeneration of this great city.”