Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers Europe (‘Cornerstone’), a subsidiary of Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers LLC, one of the largest global real estate investment managers, announces that it has completed €36m extension and refurbishment of its Center Syd shopping centre Löddeköpinge, on the outskirts of Malmö in south western Sweden, and that the centre opens for trading today. Cornerstone manages the centre on behalf of the Cornderstone Nordic Retail Fund.
The refurbishment and extension began 12 months ago, increasing the gross lettable area (GLA) of the centre by 8,000m² to a total of 39,500m², adding 35 new retail units to, bringing the total to 90. The refurbishment also gives the centre a new façade, along with new entrances, and a new interior. The extension now connects the shopping centre to be physically connected to an established ICA MAXI hypermarket.
Upon opening, Centre Syd will be around 90% let, bringing a range of exciting tenants including Clas Ohlson, JYSK and Indiska, to add to the already strong Nordic and international tenant line up. A new enlarged and diverse food court has also been created, along with a large children’s play area located in the middle of the scheme, incorporating Sweden’s tallest indoor slide and climbing wall.
Center Syd is located about 25 km north of Malmö in the Kävlinge municipality of Sweden, an area which has around 30,000 inhabitants. Malmö is part of the Öresund region which is the most populated region in the Nordics and accounts for around 25% of the total combined Swedish and Danish GDP, with a further 400,000 people expected to be living in the area by 2030. There are 3.8 million people living in Sweden, which represents about 30% of the total Nordic population, whose annual retail spend is close to €30 billion.
Charles Weeks, CEO of Cornerstone Europe said: “With the completion of this extension we have transformed Center Syd into a prime new shopping and leisure center which meets the continually evolving demands of the modern day consumer. In addition to allowing us to bring new fashion retailers into the centre we have significantly upgraded the leisure and family focussed offering. We believe that the centre will now be a real destination location in the local area and we expect annual footfall to increase significantly to almost 4.5 million by the end of next year. When combined with the forecast increase in population and strong economic activity which underpin the attractiveness of real estate investments in this part of Sweden, we believe these factors will help us to both grow income and create value for our clients.”
