Covering all angles
It’s nine years since an IRA bomb ripped the heart of Manchester city centre. Following a £28m refurbishment, the old Corn Exchange, a building dating back to 1903 that was seriously damaged by the terrorist attack, opened as Triangle in August 2000.
It had been rescued by Frogmore Investments, which sought to upgrade the retail mix and drive the centre into a new era. The dream didn’t last long, and in May 2002 in came investor Blackstone and London-based retail specialist Milligan with an accepted offer of £50m for the 150,000 sq ft space. The aim being to give it another makeover, which has only just now reached completion, and to bring in brands with a more youthful edge.
To a large extent, Milligan has succeeded in attracting what it considers to be the right mix for Triangle. There’s cult Manchester retailer Westworld, with a 4,500 sq ft space on the lower ground floor, Henri-Lloyd on the upper level (which is looking at taking a second unit for its North Sails brand) and Adidas Originals is in a prime location at the entrance to the centre. Other occupiers include Lambretta, Mikey, Muji and O’Neill, all of which have stores on Carnaby Street (as does Henri-Lloyd) and that’s no co-incidence.
“We bought Triangle in the knowledge that Selfridges and Harvey Nichols were coming to Manchester, says Milligan’s head of leasing, Melanie Taylor. We wanted to create something new in the city and we cited Carnaby Street as having the right flavour”. We also did a lot of research and focus groups to find out what was missing in the Manchester mix and we discovered that what is lacked was that slightly younger, urban feel for the people who would probably be shopping in Selfridges in five years’ time. We also wanted to put together some brands that Manchester hadn’t really seen before, so we set out the approach the brands that fit that criteria.”
The recent installation of the new Sky Bar, which is now being rented by Caffero, has been the final piece to the revamp puzzle. “We put a new entrance in and moved the escalators around, but now the Sky Bar which was built off-site like Lego and brought in, is fitted, we are finally ready to start shouting about the building. And it’s only really now we have a clean sheet to go out and let the free space, because when the entrance was being ripped out it was a bit of a building site.”
The existing units to be filled include both ground and upper level outlets, varying in size from 500 - 2,250 sq ft. Further units are available externally (with no entrances to Triangle), one which goes out onto Exchange Square and the other onto Fennel Street. There are another three vacant units on the lower level, with negotiations quite far down the line with one multi-branded operator whose name isn’t being disclosed yet.
Next is opening a 150,000 sq ft department store directly opposite the Triangle in the new £125m extension of the city’s Arndale Centre. “It really won’t reach its zenith until Next opens in November,” comments Taylor. “The opening of Next will close the circle of retail around Exchange Square (along with Selfridges and Harvey Nichols) and further draw the traditional retail pitch towards this part of town. A new transport interchange is also opening in November right around the corner, which will drive footfall right past the door of Triangle.”
Taylor also points out that Triangles current base rents are pitched ‘fairly low’, and hints at the possibility of brands./retailers being able to come and dip their toes in the water should Milligan see them as fitting in well. On average we’re looking at taking 10 per cent of their turnover. It’s more like a tenants as partners relationship, we’re aligning our interests with theirs.
Brands that Milligan would “like” to see taking the empty spaces include Firetrap, Punky Fish, Mooks, Cyberdog, Duffer of St. George and Offspring. We’re also missing a bit of clubwear not of the PVC variety, obviously! says Taylor, “but going-out clothes for men, smart casualwear. We’re specifically looking for menswear and we haven’t really got any men’s footwear.”
John Puddifant of Thomas Davidson, the company acting on behalf of Milligan to get in the right retail mix, adds, ‘We’d also like to get a big jeans brand in like Replay or Pepe and possibly a vintage clothing outlet like Rokit or Sam Greenberg.’
In an attempt to create an edgier feel to the centre, young designers ‘ supplied by the North West Development Agency ‘ are currently invited to sell their products in the basement area every Saturday. ‘It’s mainly womenswear, but there are some men’s,’ explains Taylor. ‘They don’t pay and it’s almost like just walking in with a rail. At the moment we just se it as added value for Triangle customers.’
On top of that, every weekend sees the ‘Basement Sessions’ where young, up and coming Manchester-based musicians are paid £50 a time to play on Saturdays and Sundays. ‘The feedback from tenants and customers has been good,’ says Taylor. ‘We’re not trying to create a rock concert, it’s just a bit of live music and some laid-back tunes being played by the city’s best djs. It’s about creating an atmosphere. We always imagined people would want to hang out in there, and now it’s just started to happen.’
It remains to be seen whether such promotions will have a long-term effect in drawing people into Triangle, but one thing it has got that most shopping centres don’t is a Grade 2 listed fa?e, which not only survived the IRA blast ‘ the central glass dome was destroyed, as were over 800 roof panels ‘ but also suffered heavy bombing during the second world war.
Many of the building’s original fittings remain, which mark Triangle out as unique in Manchester these days as it’s now a city full of modern architecture. The state of the art interior, though, is testament to Milligan’s (and indeed Frogmore Investments’ before it) drive to create a modern shopping experience in a building of historical value. What was the old Manchester Corn Exchange started out as an important regional centre for trading in agricultural produce, over 100 years ago.
It’s possible the future of Triangle may soon take another twist. A recent property report in the Manchester Evening News hinted that it might well be up for sale again priced in the region of £70m, but Taylor is at pains to point out that Milligan is in it for the long haul. She says, ‘We’re not looking at talking to interested parties. Blackstone is in discussion with agents due to numerous enquiries about the asset but Milligan wish to remain involved whatever happens. And it is jointly owned.’
John Milligan himself echoed that view in a comment in the MEN article. ‘Whatever happens I’d like to stay involved long-term. We’ve only just started.’
However, Christopher Dudhill, a partner at property investment adviser Christopher Dee, acting on behalf of one undisclosed interested party, comments, ‘They’d be selling into a property market that’s very buoyant and aggressive, so in many ways it’s the right time. Milligan has made approaches to the fashion market for 18-25 year olds, but a new owner might take a different view as to who to rent those shops to. Personally I think the Triangle is only going to get better.’
Aside from giving the Triangle a more youthful tenant mix, though, Milligan ‘ one of the UK’s top retailing specialists ‘ has redesigned the property to make it more visible from Exchange Square, which now buzzes with people every day. ‘We want to be inclusive, not exclusive,’ says Taylor. ‘We want a cohesive mix with a bit of a Carnaby Street feel, but we’re not looking to exclude the likes of Karen Millen. We have to be careful not to go ‘too urban’.’
When the remaining units are claimed, the centre could become the key destination for the urbanites of the North West ‘ especially when they need to escape from the Manchester rain. While Triangle’s fortunes keep changing, some things will always remain the same.