Businessman Mike Ashley has acquired the Next building in Cardiff city centre.
The billionaire retail entrepreneur has acquired the 100,000 sq ft building on Queen Street. His business portfolio already includes House of Fraser, Sports Direct and Flannels.
The lease on the Next building, which generates an annual rent of around £1.5m a year, expires in 2027. The property investment was put on the market with an asking price of around £15m, BusinessLive reports.
Mr Ashley has acquired the building via Frasers Group. With Next in a strong trading position, Frasers Group could just look to take annual rental income until the lease expires. However, there is potential, although Frasers Group wouldn’t divulge its thinking, for Mr Ashley to bring his retail businesses in the city, with House of Fraser in the up for sale Howells building, Sports Direct and Flannels, under one roof.
If that was to happen a deal would have to be done to secure a new prominent location for Next in the city centre. However, an option could be to relocate the retailer into the nearby St David’s shopping centre in the space left following the d emise of the scheme’s biggest tenant in Debenhams.
Debenhams occupied 165,000 sq ft of space in St David’s. Around 140,000 sq ft is owned by property giant British Land with the remainder coming under the joint venture of Land Securities and Intu.
Intu collapsed into administration last year but this has not impacted on the scheme which is operated by Land Securities.
A spokesperson for St David’s said: “Debenhams was a much-loved store in St David’s with a long history in the city. The store offers a fantastic space in a prime location and we have some exciting ideas for its future. In the meantime, shoppers can look forward to a mix of new brands opening at St David’s this summer including the new flagship Zara store, Wales’ first standalone Breitling store, Morphe Cosmetics and Welsh independent Mallows Beauty.”
British Land said: “We are considering our options for the site.”
A buyer for the Howells building, which is current partly occupied by House of Fraser, has yet to be secured.
Property advisory firm Avison Young are marketing the Victorian built and listed building after the firm’s Nathan Pask and Rosalind Goode were appointed joint fixed charged receivers in 2019. That followed the collapse of the company that owned the property, Jersey-based Wallace Properties, which was being financed by a German bank.
A new owner could look to redevelop the building to provide a new mixed-use scheme, with space for retail, office, residential, as well as potentially a new hotel too.
That would require an investment potentially of tens of millions of pounds. It is understood that Avison Young were initially seeking offers for the building in the region of £15m.
House of Fraser is no longer tied into a long-term lease following the administration, which means, while paying less rent than previously, it could relocate.
