Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/74664
SHOPPING CENTERS TODAY CENTER STAGE +1 646 728 3800 Fax: +1 732 694 1730 www.icsc.org Editor in Chief EDMUND MANDER +1 646 728 3487 EDITORIAL Managing Editor BRANNON BOSWELL +1 646 728 3488 Copy Chief DAVID S. ORTIZ Copy Editor VALERIE DAVID Art Director JOHN D. LEWIS Contributing Editors MADHUSMITA BORA CURT HAZLETT MATT HUDGINS BEN JOHNSON STEVE MCLINDEN MISTY MILIOTO RENÉE DEGROSS VALDÉS BENNETT VOYLES ADVERTISING & MARKETING AMIE LEIBOVITZ +1 773 360 1179 aleibovitz@icsc.org SUZANNE TANGUAY +1 646 728 3475 stanguay@icsc.org SALLY STEPHENSON +1 847 835 1617 sstephenson@icsc.org Production Coordinator DAVID STACKHOUSE +1 646 728 3482 dstackhouse@icsc.org ICSC OFFICERS Chair man BRAD M. HUTENSKY President and CEO MICHAEL P. KERCHEVAL Vice Presidents LEE T. HANLEY GAR HERRING, SCDP DANIEL B. HURWITZ ADAM W. IFSHIN JOHN MORRISON, CDP Secretary-Treasurer KENNETH A. MCINTYRE JR. For article reprints, call (866) 879-9144 or contact sales@fostereprints.com SCT (ISSN 0885-9841) is pub lished monthly. VOLUME 33, ISSUE 8 © 2012, International Coun cil of Shop ping Cen ters, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020-1099; phone, +1 (646) 728 3800; fax, +1 732 694 1730. All rights reserved. Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y., and ad di tion al mailing offices. Sub- scrip tions $70 per year; Canada and other foreign $99. Single-copy price $20 (May issue $30). For subscription information call +1 727 784 2000. POST MAS TER: Send address changes to Shopping Cen ters Today, Yizeth Vergara, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020-1099. Publications mail agreement No. 41482022, return undeliverable Canadian addresses to PO Box 503, RPO West Beaver Creek, Richmond Hill ON L4B 4R6. The pride of Newcastle METROCENTRE, EUROPE'S BIGGEST CENTER, IS 26 YEARS YOUNG By Bennett Voyles M ETROCENTRE IS A FIXTURE of shopping in northeast England. Now in its 26th year, the shopping center draws some 23 million visitors annu- ally, from all over north Britain and even as far away as Norway. In the early 1980s, though, such success seemed most improbable. First, there was the condition of the metro area at the time. Newcastle upon Tyne was just another economically depressed northern England city back then, on the decline as its shipyards and collieries closed and its people moved away. Meanwhile, in the suburb of Gateshead, sat some 120 acres that amounted to little more than an ash heap for a coal-fired power station. All of that ash got developer John Hall to thinking like a phoenix, however. This coal miner's son, who started out by fixing and selling dilapidated houses before he moved into commercial property, envisioned a loca- tion that could become accessible to some 1.5 million people within a 30-minute drive. His Cameron Hall Developments was hardly a powerhouse financially — the firm's annual revenue was scarcely more than what a large pub might generate, according to published re- ports from nearly two decades ago — but Hall managed to purchase the parcel for £100,000. Securing a commitment from Gateshead officials to build road access, Hall put together a package of enterprise-zone subsidies from the British government and some funds from the Church Commis- sioners of England. The 1.8 million- square-foot center opened in 1986, then and now the biggest in Europe. Capital Shop- ping Centres Group, which today owns 90 per- cent of the center, values it at some £864 mil- lion (nearly $1.35 billion) — a handsome return indeed on that initial £100,000 investment. Not surprisingly, Sir John Hall (he was knighted in 1991 for his role in the region's economic redevelopment) has said he regrets selling his share off to the Church Commissioners for £70 million shortly after the opening. The center contains 330-plus stores in SOME OF THE CENTER'S VISITORS ARE FROM AS FAR AWAY AS NORWAY. some 2.1 million square feet of retail space, boasting about 3.5 miles of storefront. It has changed with the times. An indoor amuse- ment park was once a main attraction but closed in 2006. The food court was replaced with higher-end restaurants and a multiplex cinema. And last year an electric-car-charging station was installed. "We're always evolving," said Martin Breeden, MetroCentre's asset management director. Perhaps appropriately, given MetroCen- tre's Church of England backing, one dis- tinctive element from the beginning was the appointment of a full-time chaplain to the management team. Some heavy industries in Britain have had chaplains in the past, but MetroCentre's was the first such effort among retailers. This remains the only full- time retail chap- laincy in the coun- try. Rev. Canon Lyn Jamieson holds no regular services there, but oversees the well-being of the 7,000 employ- ees. "I'm primarily here," she said, "for all those who work here." SCT AUGUST 2012 / SCT 5