Horsefair Wisbech 35,000 sq ft discount store and new car park ‘will boost footfall’

NewRiver Retail – who own the Horsefair shopping centre at Wisbech – has revealed that demolition of their two-deck, 300 space, car park space will pave the way for regeneration that includes a 35,000 square foot discount store. The company will replace the car park with a  ground floor car park allowing for quick and easy access to the new store and to the other shops within Horsefair.

The company says their ambitious plans also include a new drive-thru (they haven’t revealed the operator) once the two-deck car park is removed. Parking will be free for the first three hours.

“We are moving forward with our small-scale repositioning of the asset,” says NewRiver in their annual report.

“A 35,000 sq ft anchor unit is under offer to a leading discount operator which will front a new surface level car park and drive-thru, also under offer.

“On completion, this will boost footfall across the centre which has seen ongoing commitments from several existing occupiers with renewals completed with Vodafone, EE and Boots in line with valuer’s ERV.”

ERV is the external valuers’ opinion of the open market rent which, on the date of valuation, could reasonably be expected to be obtained on a new letting or rent review of a property.

NewRiver says that once demolished the two-deck car park will enable them to provide “an attractive open surface car park which will offer free car parking for up to three hours to support the existing retail offer”.

NewRiver says their Wisbech centre is one of two – Cardiff is the other – where “turnaround strategies” have been adopted.

What to do with Horsefair has been on the agenda for some years, in 2022 for instance NewRiver described Wisbech as “an attractive market town in the Fenlands; we are working up options to provide a 20,000 sq ft new food store which will transform this asset and the town centre”.

Planning permission not needed for demolition of 300 space Cambs multi storey car park

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In 2023 NewRiver reported that “following a positive pre-application response we are moving forward with our redevelopment strategy for the delivery of a new 20,000 sq ft food store anchor with a new surface car park.

“Once we have agreed terms to pre-let the new store we will submit a planning application for which following the pre-application, we are confident of securing and on delivery of the food store the centre will be fully let and help boost footfall to the centre and town”.

NewRiver says: “The retail occupational market is in its best position for at least five years due to a number of factors.

“Retailers are benefitting from robust spending by the resilient consumer and there has been limited retailer distress as much of the corporate restructuring and portfolio repositioning has already taken place.

“Additionally, the true value of the physical store has been demonstrated with omnichannel retailers continuing to win online market share from the pureplay operators.”

Today, NewRiver owns and/or manages a portfolio of £1.3 billion, of which 60% is owned by capital partners.

NewRiver says it is collecting in excess of £120 million per annum of rent from over 1,700 tenants across 28 shopping centres and 29 retail parks.

“We believe that our geographical representation, together with our customer, retailer and capital market insights, is unrivalled,” says NewRiver.