City mall could be razed in redevelopment scheme
PLANS to demolish the Queens Arcade in the centre of Cardiff to create a new mixed-use development with shops, offices, apartments and a hotel running along a new street can be revealed.
The owner of the ageing 150,000 sq ft shopping centre, which has seen letting levels hit by the pandemic, Addington Capital, has launched a consultation for its ambitious transformation plans ahead of submitting a planning application to Cardiff council later this summer.
Designed by Cardiff’s Holder Mathias Architects, the shopping centre, which was built in the mid1990s and which Addington had put up for sale with a £33m price tag back in 2016, would be replaced by a new development centred around the creation of a new open street linking Working Street, Queen Street and St David’s Shopping Centre.
Inspired by developments such as London’s Carnaby Street and Bristol’s Wapping Wharf, the scheme would include retail and commercial space alongside a new hotel, with the upper levels including new apartments.
Nigel Turner, partner at Addington Capital, said: “The opportunity to redevelop Queens Arcade is an important part of Cardiff’s city-centre evolution, given the changing face of retail and consumer behaviours.
“With the concentration of retail uses into a tighter central area, this proposed scheme will bring new life to this important part of the city, with residential, hotel and office uses, together with the creation of a whole new street and focal point.
“We want to ensure we deliver a well-integrated, sustainable scheme that adds value to Cardiff’s city centre and brings the site back into positive use.
“We are committed to engaging with local communities and businesses and look forward to talking more about the plans and hearing comments and feedback over the coming weeks.”
Gareth Hooper, chief executive of Cardiff-based DPP Planning, which will submit a planning application for Queens Arcade, said: “We have been closely involved with this site for more than a decade and believe this proposed development will breathe new life and vitality into this part of the city.
“We have contributed to the delivery of a number of changes to maintain the viability of the shopping centre throughout that period, but share Addington Capital’s view that the time is right to transform the site.
“The decline in town-centre retail is creating an opportunity to create a more sustainable future for the city with a mixed-use scheme that will set the standard for other similar developments that will positively reshape our towns and cities.”