Capitol Shopping Centre News

They're obviously clearing the one end of the shopping centre for that 'capitol tower' (30+ storeys) with observation cafe / restaurant!! it's the only thing that's gonna save the place!! Well you just never know?

They'd be stupid if they weren't seriously considering the residential redevelopment option for the upper floors/part of the centre...

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There were plans a few years ago for an All Star Lanes but that went very quiet, is it back on?

Tellingly, the latest hoardings they have been putting up on closed stores includes a stock image of a bowling alley, and the slogan is something like "play, shop, live" whereas it used to be far more shopping orientated.

The last I heard, they have had surveyors and experts doing a thorough analysis of the centre in order to present plans to redevelop everything beyond Tesco/EasyGym/Pulse. This matches with the report that they will submit plans in the autumn.

Tellingly, the latest hoardings they have been putting up on closed stores includes a stock image of a bowling alley, and the slogan is something like "play, shop, live" whereas it used to be far more shopping orientated.

The last I heard, they have had surveyors and experts doing a thorough analysis of the centre in order to present plans to redevelop everything beyond Tesco/EasyGym/Pulse. This matches with the report that they will submit plans in the autumn.

That's quite encouraging - perhaps the (I'm sure originally unplanned) wind down of this centre as a shopping attraction could force it into action and perhaps be its saving grace! Mind you I'm going to stick with my hopes for that tower! Plenty of attractions at the base with the option of going up for cafe/restaurant and observation. The Capitol centre is in a good location to be so much more than what it has declined to, but surely needs to stop 'turning its back' on Queen st station.

Wasn't planning permission refused for the tower? Something about the massing? IIRC it would have been on the site of the cinema, which was empty at the time.

Wasn't planning permission refused for the tower? Something about the massing? IIRC it would have been on the site of the cinema, which was empty at the time.

It was described by the planners as was "un-neighbourly" and "overbearing, intrusive and congested". Aside from that, I think think the cladding materials were one of the biggest problem.

Given the approval of Watkin Jones' tower on Bridge St, which backs on the conservation zone, I really don't see how you could refuse a well design scheme involving a tall building.

I think perhaps some of you have missed the separate thread relating to the new direction the centre is taking:

NewRiver looks to take Capitol shopping centre to new heights
18 March 2016 (PropertyWeek)

NewRiver Retail is to meet City of Cardiff Council later this month to discuss plans for a tower on top of the Capitol shopping centre.

Retail asset manager NewRiver has drawn up plans for a 30-storey tower that would accommodate flats, student accommodation and a hotel above the 165,000 sq ft centre on the corner of Queen Street and Charles Street in Cardiff city centre.

NewRiver bought Capitol from the Moorfield Group in January in the knowledge that it was a centre with problems that were only getting worse.

Although the acquisition was part of a three-centre, £92.3m deal, it is believed to have cost only £22m - a price reflective of vacancies on both its two levels.

Capitol’s fate was sealed last year when H&M, the anchor tenant, trading on both levels, chose not to renew its lease. Instead, H&M consolidated its presence in Cardiff in November with its largest UK store, opening a 46,000 sq ft unit in St David’s shopping centre, half a mile west down Queen Street.

“When we bought Capitol, H&M weren’t in occupation,” says Charles Spooner, a NewRiver director.

“In fact, most of the fashion has gone down to the other end of town to St David’s. I’m glad that we have got the level of voids that we have. If the tenants were still in place, we wouldn’t have the same opportunities.”

Austin Reed has left the centre, as has Jaeger, which now relies on sales from a John Lewis concession in St David’s.

Spooner says the east end of Queen Street, which is close to many of the Cardiff University buildings, has a real buzz to it created by the student population.

And as a result, the Capitol centre has become a hub for convenience. Poundworld is three years into a 10-year lease in a shop once occupied by the failed retailer Internacionale, while easyGym occupies part of the upper level.

Next month brings the first anniversary of the reopening of Capitol’s cinema, after the Odeon vacated in 2001. Premiere Cinemas, a US company that operates cinemas in shopping centres, charges only £4 a ticket. This, says Spooner, is having an effect on Cardiff’s other cinemas.

Generally, though, Capitol has been unlucky with its tenants since Guardian Royal Exchange Properties developed and opened it in 1990. An original tenant, Virgin Megastore, later to be renamed Zavvi, the music retailer, ceased trading in 2009.

When NewRiver submits its planning application in the autumn, it will also include plans for a new entrance and a proposal to turn many of the shops that are currently empty into restaurants.

We are going to get better rail connections with the Valleys of course which should be great for Queen St. I'm sure plenty of people coming from the north side prefer to just get off at Queen St than go all the way round to central.