URW and Hammerson put plans for new shopping centre on hold
The Croydon Partnership, the joint venture between Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) and Hammerson, has announced that the Westfield Croydon development has been put on hold as it carries out a comprehensive review of the rapidly changing UK market.
URW has scaled back its development pipeline, following reports of delines in NAV per share and UK rental income for its 2019 financial year.
The landlord has reduced its total development pipeline to €8.3bn, down from €11.9bn at the end of 2018, and has removed €3.2bn of projects that it says “require major redefinition, are significantly postponed due to market or administrative circumstances, or no longer meet the group’s return requirements”, which includes the development in Croydon.
A spokesman for the partnership commented: “The Croydon Partnership is working on a comprehensive review of the Croydon development to respond to the rapidly changing UK market.
“As part of this review, we are focused on right-sizing the retail and introducing additional uses including a hotel and offices, alongside residential, and are looking at opportunities to reuse some of the existing buildings to ensure a more sustainable development.
“During this phase of the review, we are also working with the council and local stakeholders on the scheme and to ensure the town centre remains active.”
