Plans for a £140m retail and leisure complex take one step closer to reality after the Crown Estate purchases the site from LXB Retail Properties…
The Crown Estate has bought a 400,000 sq ft site from LXB Retail Properties. The location has been proposed as the site of a new retail and leisure scheme worth £140m. The two companies will work together to deliver the Rushden Lakes development in Northamptonshire. The scheme is the second time the Crown Estate has worked with LXB. In 2013, the two firms came together to deliver the £80m Banbury Gateway Fashion Park.
Big retail stores Marks & Spencer, and H&M have already signed up to open new stores on the site. There will also be a home and garden centre, additional shops, and eight restaurants.
The site will be focused around the lake and will offer activities such as wakeboarding and canoeing. The plans include a visitor centre, as well as the boathouse.
Work is expected to begin in the autumn of this year and should complete in the summer of 2016.
The scheme is expected to create at least 2,500 jobs during the construction process. Permanent retail and catering jobs will also be created once the site is fully operational.
The Crown Estate Regional Portfolio Manager Hannah Milne said: “Rushden Lakes will be the first in a new generation of shopping parks, setting an entirely new standard for the retail and leisure experience offered by assets of this type.
“We will see occupiers coming to Rushden Lakes that have never traded out of town before, demonstrating the quality of the scheme.”
The site was originally bought by LXB in 2011 for £4.5m. Planning for the project was granted by East Northamptonshire District Council in 2012. It is hoped the development will attract more than three million visitors per year.
