Scarborough Development Group (SDG) has obtained planning permission for a multi million pound redevelopment of a prime three acre site in Congleton town centre.

Included in the scheme will be a 60,000 sq ft food store, a 96-room hotel, and parking for 241 cars.

In addition there will be a new indoor and outdoor market providing 11 indoor and 36 outdoor stalls, a new public square to provide space for events and town centre promotions, and new pedestrian links to other areas of the town centre.

Damian Flood, SDG Development Manager, confirmed that the developers were in advanced negotiations with a major food store chain and a leading hotel operator.

He added: “This redevelopment will revitalise the town centre and provide a major boost for residents and visitors.”

SDG’s funding partner in the Congleton scheme is Investec Private Bank. It is the latest in an ambitious programme of developments to be undertaken by the partners in the North West, Wales and Lincolnshire involving more than 650,000 sq ft of food store, mixed retail, offices and parking with an investment value of some £200 million.

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Mike Edge, whose recruitment to Pinsent Masons was announced in March, joins the firm this week as head of the property team in Manchester. He was previously national head of the real estate practice at Halliwells.

Two further property specialists - partner Rachel Pitman and associate Phillip Birchall - will also join the firm this week from Halliwells.

Mike Edge works with a range of clients across the property business world - developers, investors, institutions and occupiers, with the development arena a particular focus in recent years. Mike was a partner at Halliwells for 11 years, 9 years as head of the property practice. The property team achieved high levels of profitable growth and the practice grew to four times its original size. Whilst at Halliwells Mike held positions on the Main Board and the Remuneration Committee.

Previously he was a property partner in Slater Heelis, Manchester for ten years.

Rachel Pitman and Phillip Birchall have both been at Halliwells for the whole of their career to date.

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Acting on behalf of a private owner, Christie + Co has sold the Hilton & Royal Parade Hotel in Eastbourne, to first-time buyers Dr Ram Aggarwal and his son Ankur, for an undisclosed sum, off a guide price of £2.5 million.

Prominently located on Eastbourne seafront, the hotel provides 115-bedrooms with the benefit of extensive public areas, including two sun lounges; a newly refurbished bistro/coffee shop; residents’ lounges; and public bar. The business also features two function rooms with a combined capacity for 300, a further 220-cover restaurant, a self-contained three-bedroom apartment and staff accommodation.

The property will remain as a hotel with Ankur operating the business alongside the current management team.

Funding for the deal was provided by Barclays Bank plc, confirming that banks continue to have an appetite to lend in the hotel sector.

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London & Stamford Property Limited today announces that it has completed the acquisition of 58 residential units and car parking spaces at Bridges Wharf, Battersea for a price of £27.9m (excl. costs) from Weston Homes Plc. Its announcement dated 8 June 2010 referred to acquiring 57 residential units. The additional residential unit is one of the 6 units London & Stamford had a first right of refusal over. London & Stamford continues to have first right of refusal over one further residential unit and a car parking space. Knight Frank will act as letting agents for London & Stamford.

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In its latest Think Property report, Henderson Global Investors examines the prospects for the Chinese real estate market, assessing whether recent Government initiatives to dampen growth in the housing market, are sufficient to mitigate concern over the impact on the banking system and wider economy.

Henderson examines the cooling of the Chinese economy since April 2010 and predicts that it will slow further to a sustainable, but healthy, growth rate of 8% to 9% per annum. It concludes that there remains a compelling long term growth story for China. The report states the following reasons:

· China is still a comparatively poor country with GDP per capita of just US$4,000 per annum. In context, this is akin to the US in 1934 and Japan in 1960, leaving great growth potential as the gap continues to narrow.

· Growth will be supported by Government initiated trillion-dollar infrastructure projects introduced last year, as part of a massive stimulus plan. Hundreds of emerging cities will have the chance to compete with their coastal counterparts and develop their own economies.

Growth in tier two and three locations will be a key component in driving China’s wider economic
growth over the medium to longer term.

The growing demand of China’s 1.3 billion consumers will soon outweigh current supply.

Charlie Huang, Research Analyst for Henderson in Asia, believes that, while the housing market has been overheating, the commercial property market has behaved somewhat differently, with most investors in the market being rational buyers. He says: “While values have improved and cap rates have compressed [by around 100bps], in line with most Asian markets, the Chinese commercial real estate market could actually benefit from the cooling in the housing market. On one hand, the risk of overheating implies a healthier banking system and capital market. On the other hand, stable house prices could free up some household savings with rising available spend and consumption benefitting the income of the commercial properties.

Huang concludes: “We believe that fiscal stimulus, infrastructure growth and alleviated concerns over the housing market mean China can continue its journey up the maturity curve, offering investors economic growth that is unrivalled in the developed world, but at a pace now that feels more comfortable and sustainable than we have seen in recent years.”

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Land Securities announced that it will be adding to its development programme with the start of its Trinity Leeds development, in Leeds city centre. The c.1,000,000 sq ft scheme is the first major retail-led development in the UK to get the go ahead in recent times.

The development is already some 47% pre-let or in solicitors hands bringing together the best of the UK high street, premier brands and international retailers. The development has attracted new flagship stores for TopShop/TopMan, H&M, River Island and Next and secured new brands for the city with Hollister and Cult. The new retailers will join the existing major stores of Marks & Spencer, Bhs and Boots, creating one of the strongest retail offers in a regional UK city when it opens in Spring 2013.

Richard Akers, Managing Director Retail for Land Securities, commented on the announcement “We have seen a building of momentum with the level of secured lettings demonstrating the confidence in Leeds as a destination and in the Trinity Leeds project, which is the first major development scheme outside London to go live. The quality of retailers that we have signed to the scheme supports Land Securities’ view that there is demand from retailers for the right property in the right location.”

It is anticipated that works will start back on site next month with a construction contract due to be signed imminently. The £350m project will create up to 1,000 construction related jobs at the peak of its development programme and will employ an estimated 3,000 retail related positions upon completion.

The development will offer more than 120 retail units and will include a stylish new casual dining and leisure quarter including the first Everyman Cinema in the North and restaurant operators Carluccio’s and Yo!Sushi. A new landmark restaurant opportunity has also been created adjacent to the magnificent Grade I listed Holy Trinity church which is incorporated within the scheme’s landscape.

Trinity Leeds will transform the shopping zone around Briggate, Commercial Street, Albion Street and Boar Lane and occupy a prime position connected to the city’s office quarter and main transportation links. The Leeds Shopping Plaza will be extensively re-modelled to enable its seamless integration within the new shopping and leisure environment.

Appointed agents for Trinity Leeds are Central Retail, Cushman and Wakefield, Jones Lang LaSalle and Shelley Sandzer.

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According to the latest research report produced by Invista Real Estate Investment Management, the European property markets have continued to deliver attractive income returns over the past two years despite the worst economic conditions in modern times.

According to IPD, the income return on its Eurozone Index increased from 5.1% in 2007 to 5.6% at the end of 2009, its highest level since 2003, which cushioned the impact of falling capital values. With interest rates expected to remain low in the short term, we anticipate seeing an increasing weight of investor capital seeking income-producing property investments. Invista’s forecasts suggest income returns will range from 5% in Austria, Belgium and Germany to more than 7% in Finland, Ireland, Portugal and Spain.

Since property investment turnover bottomed-out across Europe in the first quarter of 2009 (Source: CBRE), investor demand has focused on high quality properties and prime submarkets in Europe’s larger, more liquid property markets. This defensive strategy is expected to shift as investors look for higher yielding properties in ‘good secondary’ locations.

Rental growth is expected to depend on the level and sustainability of economic and employment growth over the next few years, both of which have become more uncertain in the short-term due to initiatives to reduce government budget deficits. This suggests that 2010 will be the worst year for rent declines in the current cycle. Over the longer term, Invista identifies modern office properties located in supply constrained city centres, such as Paris, Munich and Vienna, as potential growth winners within the European market. The retail sector is expected to remain under pressure due to weak consumer spending, however, “hotspots” for rental growth could emerge as retailers consolidate within the best units and centres in a ‘flight to quality’ to protect their profits. This could generate some competition and a degree of rental growth in prime city-centre locations and dominant regional shopping centres. The same can be said for the logistics / distribution market rents, where a ‘flight to quality’ trend is also expected to emerge amongst distribution occupiers, which could support prime rents in hub locations.

The risk to property income returns from tenant default is considered to be above ‘normal’ levels, primarily as a result of the worst global economic conditions of modern times. Pricing trends in the Eurozone CDS (credit default swap) market suggest that default risks are highest in the telecommunications, utilities, banking and insurance sectors, in contrast to the retail, technology, food & beverage and industrial sectors.

Tim Francis, Director of Continental European Strategy & Research at Invista, commented:
“Over the longer term in Continental Europe, income returns have typically made a greater contribution to overall property performance than capital growth, both in cyclical and non-cyclical markets. Taking into account the subdued outlook for rental growth across Continental Europe, we therefore expect investors to remain focused on preserving and enhancing income returns at their currently attractive levels, and thus are unlikely to be attracted to higher risk, capital growth investments.”

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By the first half of 2010, retailers are expressing cautious optimism in the market, based on the latest report by Colliers International. Rents have stabilized, mainly the tenants have the upper hand in terms of lease negotiations; apart from closings, there were also examples of new openings; also high streets are still very popular on the market – summarized the trends Szabolcs Koroknai, associate director of retail at the Hungarian office of Colliers International.

Following the negative developments of 2009, the fall in the turnover of shops has stopped, after a slight increase in Q2 which had followed the small decrease in Q1. The role of location for retail developments has once again become of prime importance. After their huge drop last year, rents did not on average fall any further in the first half of 2010, stabilizing at a level that is between 10–50% below its pre-crisis peak.

Many retailers continued to experience difficulties, and some have been forced to close their operations, such as shoe store chain Leonardo or the Armani Café on Andrássy út. Apart from closings, there were also examples of expanding chains and new market entrants. Examples for the former are drug store chains DM and Rossmann, and pet food retailer Fressnapf, which is expected to open up to 10 stores this year in regional centers, taking advantage of its opportunities by acquiring space in good locations at low prices. A new global player entering the local market was Starbucks, which after a long wait finally opened its first Hungarian coffee shop with the help of Colliers International in WestEnd City Center in June.

Only two retail centers opened in the first half of the year, the Alpha Park strip mall in Keszthely and the Family Center in Vác. For the remainder of the year, the biggest opening will be the Corvin Atrium in Budapest, with 36,000 sqm GLA, which will open in the fall. There are some other large projects underway in the capital, such as the KÖKI Terminal and Váci1, while some others have been postponed or cancelled.

The experience of the first few months of the Allee shopping center, which opened as the only major development of 2009 late last year, shows that existing, successful malls can better meet retailers’ expectations than newly opened ones, since they do not have to wait until turnover at the centers gears up.

„High streets Váci utca and Andrássy remain the number one targets for retailers, although rents have dropped in both locations by around 10% and 30%, respectively. Luxury brands are satisfied with their presence on Andrássy, and more new players can be expected here, which poses no problem from the supply side, as there are around 15 empty shops for rent” – said Anita Csörgõ, director of retail at Colliers International.

Based on Colliers’s experience, retailers are very cautiously optimistic regarding their outlook, and many said they are planning to open new outlets in shopping centers to be delivered in the near future. Prime locations are still sought by retailers, but no longer at any cost since they are interested in leasing spaces only at lower rent levels than before. Overall, no major change in the discussed trends is expected in the second half of the year, but various realignments in tenant mixes at retail centers could take place.

Source: O|G|H

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DTZ and the project management group IMS have formally announced the integration of their operations in Russia. The new company is branded as DTZ-IMS.

In October 2009, IMS took over the operations of DTZ in Russia, building on a successful working relationship between the two companies that has existed in Kazakhstan since 2007.

What followed was an extended period of restructuring, including significant changes to senior management; in line with the new focus on professionalism and providing a wider range of services to their clients.

Mr. Gurer Unal, Chairman of the Board of Directors, believes that a gap in the market has always existed in regards to meeting the on-going needs of clients, which will be better served through the integrated capabilities of the combined company.

The new company will operate out of the DTZ office in Moscow, located at n 16/3 Kransoproletarskaya Street.

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ICADE Promotion and MVRDV present the design for the Pushed Slab office building at ZAC Gare de Rungis in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. The 19.000 m2 building will be one of the first low energy buildings realised in France; with low energy consumption and an energy production of appr. 200.000kWh per year. Construction of the 35 million Euro building commissioned by French project developer ICADE Promotion is expected to start 2011.

The Pushed Slab is located between two completely different urban grids: the dense city fabric of blocks and streets in the North and the loose urban fabric in the south with its clear defined and straightforward infrastructure. The design is based on the requested office program and the energy requirements. The project combines proven energy efficiency technologies with individual office floors and outside spaces such as patios, balconies and a garden.

The building is located on a former rail embankment of approximately 4.150 sqm. The volume follows the site restrictions, a slab shaped volume of 150 m long and 21 m wide. An opening in the volume preserves the view of a historic building. To contribute to the sustainable development and taking the impact of deforestation into account, certified wood from France will be used. The climate is controled by natural ventilation; 1500 sqm solar panels on the roof provide renewable energy and a grey water circuit will be applied. Blinds will be integrated in the south facade and in the cuts. The building will be insulated from the outside in order to reduce thermal bridges. The accumulation of these proven reliable techniques results in a highly efficient low energy building which leads to an energy consumption of 49 kWh per m2 per year.

The project is part of the ZAC Gare de Rungis development, according to the mayor of the arrondissement Jerome Coumet “The first Eco-quarter of Paris, the first presented and the first to be completed.” The building is designed by MVRDV in cooperation with local architect North by North West, in a joint effort with the engineering and advisory firms ARCOBA (Saint Denis), Casso, Terrell, Vanguard and Alto, all located in Paris.

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