London's Crown Estate acquires Leicester-based family business

The Crown Estate in London, through Fosse Partnership, has acquired Castle Acres from Leicestershire-based family business, Everards.

With the purchase, Fosse Partnership has committed £135m to develop the 12.5 acre Castle Acres site, adjacent to its existing Fosse shopping park, creating a new shopping and dining destination.

The new development will create around 288k sq ft of retail and restaurant space to complement the current Fosse line-up.

Hannah Milne, director of regional retail at The Crown Estate, commented: “Castle Acres will be an outstanding addition which further enhances [the Fosse] destination.

“The Castle Acres deal is a key part of our portfolio strategy; to tailor destinations to meet the needs of their catchment and the local communities.

“The combination of retail and leisure, and the quality experience that Castle Acres will provide, is what local customers have told us they want.”

Everards of Leicestershire, the family-owned brewer and pub operator founded in 1849, had based its brewery, office and logistics at Castle Acres for over 30 years.

The planning process for the redevelopment was led by Everards and supported by Next, which will be taking a 90k sq ft three-story store in the new scheme.

The Castle Acres scheme is already almost 60 per cent pre-let, with other confirmed tenants including Debenhams, TK Maxx and Clarks.

In the last year, the partnership has invested £12.7m in Fosse to enhance the offer and experience for retailers and their customers.

Richard Everard, chairman of Everards, commented: “We are delighted to have reached an agreement to sell Castle Acres to The Crown Estate, through the Fosse Partnership.

“Having already established our new logistics centre at Glenfield, Leicestershire we now look forward to developing Everards Meadows. The build programme, commencing in early 2018 will include a Everards office and brewery, destination food and drink units and a cycling centre.”

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