City of Wolverhampton has been named by a leading commercial property magazine as the leading retail hotspot for investors outside London and the South East.<\/p>\n
It features fifth in Property Week\u2019s \u2018Hot 100 Retail Locations 2016\u2019 rankings for where in the UK investors can find the best retail and leisure opportunities.<\/p>\n
In previous years, the ranking, which is drawn up exclusively for Property Week by location experts CACI, focused on towns with the greatest mass market potential. <\/p>\n
This year, however, they have chosen to focus on areas that have the most potential for investors.<\/p>\n
Property Week states: \u201cWolverhampton\u2019s top-five slot is driven by the centre\u2019s relative dominance in the local catchment area, the opportunity for headroom and the alignment of the existing offer to the customer demographic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe opportunity in the area is reflected in the current development pipeline, which includes the Mander Centre and Wolverhampton Interchange Project. The \u00a335m redevelopment of the Mander Centre includes the opening of numerous anchor stores and is set to complete in 2017.<\/p>\n
Similarly, the Wolverhampton Interchange Project is ongoing but has already added significantly to the appeal of the town as a retail destination. In addition to increasing the range of retail and leisure options in the city, the development is also improving travel links.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the past, rankings have focused on the size of a retail destination\u2019s catchment and how well the offer fits the demographic of that catchment. <\/p>\n
These variables are still considered in this ranking, but the weighting has shifted to prioritise the scope for additional space.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of the towns and cities towards the top of the ranking have large enough catchments to support significant amounts of new retail and leisure development,\u201d said John Platt, associate partner at CACI.<\/p>\n
City of Wolverhampton Council Cabinet Member for City Economy, Councillor John Reynolds, added: \u201cMajor investment is happening in the city centre to boost the visitor and retail economy – and the future looks bright.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe \u00a335 million Mander Centre redevelopment will deliver Debenhams as a flagship store and a number of other big-name outlets like H&M over the next 12 months.<\/p>\n
\u201cUrban & Civic\u2019s \u00a355 million plans for a mixed leisure-led scheme on Westside will transform the heart of the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd businesses have shown confidence in Wolverhampton by quickly occupying the new i10 building \u2013 part of the \u00a3120 million Interchange transformation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Property Week go on to say: \u201cThe CACI ranking doesn\u2019t take into account the size of that potential investment, however. So, one of the relatively small destinations near the top of the ranking will only be able to support a minimal development whereas one of the larger cities that ranks lower down could support something much more substantial. The point is the relative size of the gap between a town or city\u2019s catchment and its existing retail offer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ranking also takes a nuanced approach to measuring a destination\u2019s catchment. For instance, in addition to a town or city\u2019s existing population, the ranking also considers how that population is projected to increase or fall over the next 10 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso taken into account are factors such as the affluence of a population – how much potential spend there is in a catchment area, rather than just how many people it contains. Importantly, the ranking also measures the number of people who work in an area and its appeal to tourists.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
City of Wolverhampton has been named by a leading commercial property magazine as the leading retail hotspot for investors outside London and the South East. It features fifth in Property Week\u2019s \u2018Hot 100 Retail Locations 2016\u2019 rankings for where in the UK investors can find the best retail and leisure opportunities. In previous years, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wolverhamptonlabour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5087"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wolverhamptonlabour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wolverhamptonlabour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wolverhamptonlabour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wolverhamptonlabour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wolverhamptonlabour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5087\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wolverhamptonlabour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wolverhamptonlabour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wolverhamptonlabour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}