Development partners Wilson Bowden Developments and Wokingham Borough Council have announced that they have secured two major pre-lets at its Elms Field development in Wokingham town centre.
Premier Inn and Everyman Cinemas have signed up as anchor tenants at the £25m mixed-use regeneration scheme. In addition to a 92 bed hotel and three screen boutique cinema, Elms Field will also house a 17,000 sq ft foodstore, four restaurants, 10 retail units and an 88 space car park. Work on the site, which is located on the edge of the town centre, is due to begin in early spring 2017 with completion scheduled for autumn 2018.
In addition to Elms Field, Wilson Bowden Developments and Wokingham Borough Council is undertaking a simultaneous regeneration project in the town centre at Peach Place; the delivery of which will coincide with Elms Field to provide Wokingham with two new retail and leisure destinations.
Peach Place will comprise 10 prime restaurant and retail units based around a central plaza and fronting onto the 100% prime retail pitch where the leasing agents report that lettings are progressing well on this £18m development.
Rob Williams, head of retail agency and development at Strutt & Parker, who advised Wokingham Borough Council, said: “The creation of Elms Field and Peach Place will bring two new vibrant retail and leisure areas to Wokingham that will deliver a significant boost to Wokingham’s already affluent town centre. Increasingly local authorities are undertaking their own retail and leisure developments to ensure viable solutions are delivered. Wilson Bowden Developments and Wokingham Borough Council are well placed to benefit from the renewed retailer confidence we are currently seeing.”
Bernie Pich, head of town centre regeneration at Wokingham Borough Council, said: “It’s been great seeing such growing interest and confidence in the town since we started to secure planning consent for different regeneration phases. We’ve been talking to a variety of companies about taking on units and we think local people are going to be excited when they see the businesses signing up to come to the town.”
Strutt & Parker represented Wokingham Borough Council, Peter Spelman Consultancy and Restaurant Property acted on behalf of Premier Inn and Everyman Cinemas respectively