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Cardiff Retail

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paul cardiffwalesmap

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Re: Cardiff Retail

PostThu Jun 07, 2018 1:21 pm

Simon_SW17 wrote:
Lewisbeecham wrote:Really? Interesting. It's perfect for a big hotel. What I would hate to see is a Travelodge rammed in there. It wouldnt surprise me of Accor are after a second site for a Mercure or a Novotel. I would love to see Qatar take it. I don't think it'll be empty for long.


A Travelodge type hotel wouldn't look at a building like that, way too expensive for them. It's likely to be something at the top end, it's a beautiful building with great features. There's the old chapel inside which would look amazing as part of a bar or restaurant.


So potentially this could even be good news for the building!! Don't get me wrong this is bad news about House of Fraser and I really feel for the employees, also Howells was the last of that old Department store style we'll ever see in Cardiff - the end of an era :|
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Lewisbeecham

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Re: Cardiff Retail

PostThu Jun 07, 2018 1:25 pm

The more I think about it the more it makes sense for Qatar to take this over. It's an enormous site, perfect for a good mix of rooms, suites, spa, restuarants, gift shop!? Qatar airways sales desk?

It's got a taxi rank outside, the T9 Airport Express could go past and stop outside in addition to the Custom House stop before it's moved back into the Bus Station.
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Rhodri

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Re: Cardiff Retail

PostThu Jun 07, 2018 2:13 pm

Room for a rooftop pool as well.

Really feel for the workers there, the store was making a profit apparently.
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Simon_SW17

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Re: Cardiff Retail

PostThu Jun 07, 2018 4:53 pm

Rhodri wrote:Room for a rooftop pool as well.

Really feel for the workers there, the store was making a profit apparently.


If it's profitable I doubt it would be on the closure list. I don't think Howell's ever really got over John Lewis opening. A shame to have less choice in Cardiff but I don't think they had enough footfall ultimately.
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Rhodri

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Re: Cardiff Retail

PostThu Jun 07, 2018 6:29 pm

The Landlord was on Radio Wales this morning and that is what was said.
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Lyndon

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Re: Cardiff Retail

PostThu Jun 07, 2018 6:35 pm

They were nobbled by their own ludicrous financial engineering in the naughties, selling off their stores and leasing them back. I don't know if they're crippled by a load of private equity debt too. I don't like to sound like a Corbynista, but all Hedge Fund managers should be shot.
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Ash

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Re: Cardiff Retail

PostThu Jun 07, 2018 7:41 pm

Rhodri wrote:The Landlord was on Radio Wales this morning and that is what was said.


It may well be the case that Howells were turning a profit at the moment but the building needed serious spending and I suspect the freeholder was unwilling to invest on behalf of a parlous tenant and the tenant themself was unable to.

The situation wasn't quite the same when David Morgan's closed but there are a few parallels. Morgans too was profitable right to the end but, unlike HoF, the company still owned the freehold of the building. When an unsolicited offer came in for the site that equated to multiple decades of profits, closure was the only rational decision.

I felt for the Morgans staff then and I feel for the Howellls staff now. I'm not worried about the future of the site though as I'm sure it will attract huge interest.

For what it's worth, my best guess is that the art-deco block on St. Mary Street will become a hotel while the rest will be a mixed use development with retail, residential and office all in the mix.

I'm not sure what the current status is but until relatively recently the Howells estate was larger than just the current store and included the building currently housing Waterstones as well as the Borough pub.
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Cardiff

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Re: Cardiff Retail

PostThu Jun 07, 2018 10:04 pm

I cant imagine a 5 star hotel opening next to the Borough pub!
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RandomComment

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Re: Cardiff Retail

PostFri Jun 08, 2018 11:04 am

Ash wrote:
Rhodri wrote:The Landlord was on Radio Wales this morning and that is what was said.


It may well be the case that Howells were turning a profit at the moment but the building needed serious spending and I suspect the freeholder was unwilling to invest on behalf of a parlous tenant and the tenant themself was unable to.

The situation wasn't quite the same when David Morgan's closed but there are a few parallels. Morgans too was profitable right to the end but, unlike HoF, the company still owned the freehold of the building. When an unsolicited offer came in for the site that equated to multiple decades of profits, closure was the only rational decision.

I felt for the Morgans staff then and I feel for the Howellls staff now. I'm not worried about the future of the site though as I'm sure it will attract huge interest.

For what it's worth, my best guess is that the art-deco block on St. Mary Street will become a hotel while the rest will be a mixed use development with retail, residential and office all in the mix.

I'm not sure what the current status is but until relatively recently the Howells estate was larger than just the current store and included the building currently housing Waterstones as well as the Borough pub.


I think if it were a 5 star hotel it would need more than just the block on St Mary's. But the site is huge, and it wouldn't need it all, so you're right there will have to be a mixed use element to this.

My guess is similar. A hotel on St Mary's street, and perhaps some of the Wharton street frontage. I think we would see some retail units on the Hayes end.

What will probably pose the biggest problem are the huge internal floor plates without any natural light: too big even for office accomodation. So I think they might need to do some internal demolition to create some sort of internal square? That could perhaps have some restaurants and bars, maybe a few small shop units for brands not in the city or under-represented on a sort of pop-up basis? (now we're not having a box city). And then yes apartments and office space above.
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Lyndon

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Re: Cardiff Retail

PostFri Jun 08, 2018 9:34 pm

As mentioned above, there is a lot of internal, windowless space in Howells, which will make a residential/hotel conversion more difficult than in David Morgans, which had a nice, long frontage onto the Hayes. It would be really cool to push an new arcade through between St Mary Street and the Hayes, listed buildings consent permitting.

There was a lot of doom and gloom when DM closed, but what we ended up with was probably a big improvement, hopefully the same will be true of Howells.
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