Hammerson has secured two more lettings at its £85m WestQuay Watermark leisure scheme in Southampton on the eve of the first operators opening their doors.
KuPP, the Scandi-inspired casual all-day dining concept and L’Osteria, the Austrian pasta pizza restaurant will open early next year in the restaurant-led leisure scheme that also includes, a 10-screen Showcase Cinema de Lux, Hollywood Bowl and new plaza.
KuPP has taken a 5,200 sq ft space and L’Osteria’s 7,380 sq ft in the scheme which also includes a public plaza where up to 100 events a year will be held. The scheme will be fully open by February 2017.
Among the restaurants that will begin opening this week are CAU, The Real Greek, Red Dog Saloon, Franco Manca, Thaikhun, Byron, Cabana and COSMO.
Speaking on site Robin Dobson, head of retail development, Hammerson said the scheme was ahead of its 90% lettings target.
“We’ve surpassed our target. As is pretty normal on schemes, we reserve around 10% so we can alter the mix as we open our scheme and drive future rents going forward, but actually getting to 96% shows the lack of supply and huge demand.”
Sarah Fox, head of restaurants and leisure, commented: “We had so much demand we had competition for all our sites and what we tried to do is make sure we had enough differentiation inthe mix.”
To hear more about the scheme and the leasing strategy listen to the podcast and look out for our video tour next week.
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