A ‘CRACKING OPPORTUNITY’ FOR NEW MANAGEMENT TEAM AT SHOPPING CENTRE
Team is brought in to revive intu Potteries
STOKE-ON-TRENT’S biggest shopping centre is under new management.
London-based property management company MAPP has been brought in to support the existing management team running intu Potteries, while APAM will take on the asset management responsibilities.
The Hanley centre – home to more than 80 stores and restaurants – will continue to operate under the intu brand until a revamp later this year, which will see it retain its Potteries name.
There will also be a new logo, new signage and a new website, while all current staff will be transferred over on the same terms and conditions.
Amy Whittaker, general manager for intu Potteries, said: “We have always prided ourselves on creating a complete day-out experience for all our visitors, and this transition means we can carry on doing just that.
“As we embark on this new chapter, we look forward to welcoming visitors old and new, and to ensuring the Potteries centre remains a great place they can continue to enjoy.”
In a joint statement, Nigel Mapp, CEO at MAPP, and Simon Cooke, executive director at APAM, said: “We are very much looking forward to working with the outstanding onsite team at the Potteries centre to reposition the centre not just for retail but as a cultural centre and community hub that will make Stokeon-trent proud.”
Its future was thrown into doubt early this year when debt-ridden owners intu – which also owns the Trafford Centre – collapsed into administration in June.
Jim Tucker, partner at KPMG and joint administrator of intu Properties plc, said: “We are now midway through our migration timetable, with further centres set to transition to new management in the days and weeks ahead.”
City centre leaders have welcomed the news.
Jonathan Bellamy, left, chairman of the City Centre Business Improvement District (BID), said: “It’s great news that MAPP has taken on the cracking opportunity that the Potteries shopping centre offers.
“As one of the better performing centres in the former intu portfolio, the Potteries shopping centre has a huge footprint of potential customers within a 20-mile radius, and the greater percentage of its 80 shopping units and restaurants are currently filled with a myriad of popular and big-name brands.
“A third of city centre businesses are based in the complex, so this is a real key and positive breakthrough for our city.
“At the BID, we are really looking forward to working constructively with MAPP as a key stakeholder in the future of our city centre.”