Hammerson sells Place des Halles shopping centre in Strasbourg

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 22, 2017

Hammerson, the UK real estate giant that owns a raft of shopping properties, said Wednesday that it will dispose of its controlling stake in the Place des Halles shopping centre in Strasbourg, France. 

It has exchanged contracts on the sale of its 64.5% stake to LaSalle Investment Management, which is also buying the remaining stake from Place des Halles’ co-owner.

LaSalle is paying €291 million (£258 million) to take over the centre, which is a prime regional mall covering 41,600 sq m with 120 stores and restaurants. It attracts 10 million shoppers annually.

Hammerson has undertaken several recent asset management initiatives to improve the quality of the centre, including a full mall refurbishment and the creation of new units including the largest Zara flagship store in the East of France. Remodelling of the exterior façade also began this year.

Hammerson said the disposal is part of its “focus on strategic assets in France with value creation potential.” But it’s also clearly part of a much wider focus on properties that will generate massive returns in the year ahead.

With a recent report saying that giant supermalls are the way forward, Hammerson is making major investment in such malls. In the UK, it’s part of the Croydon Partnership, along with Westfield, which has just been given the green light to develop a third London area Westfield centre. That development will cost £1.4 billion in total and will be one of the biggest developments in the UK and Europe over the next few years.