Packaged Living and Fiera Real Estate have secured planning consent for their £200m Maritime Gateway development in Southampton, situated on the former Toys ‘R’ Us site on Western Esplanade.
Proposals, filed with Southampton City Council in December last year, include 60,000 sq ft of grade-A office space, 600 new homes, more than 7,000 sq ft of food, beverage and leisure venues and over 86,000 sq ft of new public realm.
Plans for the 4.8-acre site also include outline planning permission for the construction of a building of up to eight storeys, for which the use has yet to be determined.
A new walkway leading towards the waterfront, called the International Maritime Promenade, will be installed, as well as gardens and a park.
The location was previously earmarked for student accommodation. However, Mark Woodrow, managing director of Packaged Living, said the operator agreed with the council that student accommodation is “not appropriate within this high-quality range of uses and will not be taken forward as part of this scheme”.
The 41,000 sq ft former Toys ‘R’ Us store, which is vacant, is being used by Southampton’s Polish Social Club to store and distribute donations for Ukrainian refugees.
The building will be demolished later this year before works start in 2023.
The residential element will consist of studio and one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments with roof gardens, residents’ lounges and entertaining suites. It will provide racks for 500 bicycles and more than 100 new car parking spaces, all fitted with electric car charging points.
The site is owned by Fiera Real Estate Opportunity Fund V UK, the fifth fund in FRE UK’s programmatic venture series with CBRE Global Investment Management. The fund recently closed with £180m, bringing the series raise to more than £780m to date.
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Photo © Packaged Living and Fiera Real Estate
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