Trafford Centre coming to Torremolinos
(Source: Manchester Evening News 19.02.08)
PEEL
Holdings, the property and investment giant, is set to take its
Trafford Centre shopping mall international with a £500m scheme on the
Costa del Sol.
After years of planning and negotiations with the Spanish authorities, Trafford Centre España has been given the green light.
The
development, being led by Lindsey Ashworth, one of Peel founder John
Whittaker's key lieutenants, will take place on a 80-acre site in
Torremolinos.
With planning permission granted, the next stage
for Peel will be to raise the cash for the development - which should
not pose too many problems, given the outstanding success of the
original Trafford Centre, which attracts more than 30 million visitors
a year.
Construction should begin early 2009 and will take
around two years. Trafford Centre España will follow the original
closely - it will offer around one million sq ft of retail,
entertainment and leisure space, anchored by department stores and a
cinema.
It will also feature a similar style of architecture.
In
recognition of its location on the popular Costa de Sol, the
development will also include a five-star hotel and, eventually, some
luxury apartments.
Mr Ashworth said Trafford Centre España
would have `universal' appeal, and would not be purely focused at the
large ex-pat community on the Costa del Sol, or to visiting tourists.
He
explained how the development came about: "John bought the land in the
1980s. The original site was 40 acres. We tried to get the scheme
through planning, but had no success. About five years ago, we teamed
up with adjoining landowners, who shared our aspirations.
"While
there will obviously be a flavour of the original Trafford Centre, the
major difference is, because it's in a warm climate, it can be
outward-facing. Bars and restaurants will have terracing and some will
be built around a lake."
Mr Ashworth said the site was superbly
located, 10 minutes from Malaga and half an hour away from Marbella,
where Mr Whittaker has a home.
"Like the original, Trafford
Centre España has got excellent connectivity - a new motorway is being
built right outside it," said Mr Ashworth.
"It will be aimed at everybody - local people and tourists.
"When we started, the new motorway extension was not even proposed, so time has been very kind to us.
"There's
nothing like this in Spain - the nearest thing to what we have here is
Xanadu in Madrid, and it's nowhere near as nice.
"There is a huge market out there and people like to shop in a pleasant environment and that is what we will provide."
He said there had been cynicism over whether the Trafford Centre - which celebrates its 10th birthday this autumn - would work.
"We
proved people wrong when they said it would fail because it was too
near Manchester. We all thought it would do well, but I think it has
exceeded all our expectations."
Peel, which owns Liverpool John
Lennon Airport, the Manchester Ship Canal and a number of other key
property assets in the UK, already owns some property overseas,
principally in Bermuda and Barbados.
Trafford Centre España is the first large-scale, mixed use international development that Peel has begun.
