£100 million revamp of Merry Hill shops and bus station to start in January
Merry Hill is about to undergo the biggest transformation since it was built more than 25 years ago, as owners intu plan to spend around £100 million over the next five years.
Work on remodelling the shopping centre's bus station starts in January and talks have taken place with potential tenants for the vacant BHS at the centre.
The centre owner also wants to double the amount of space for restaurants at Merry Hill and is looking to attract more major retail names with bigger shop units.
Matthew Roberts, chief financial officer at intu and the man in charge of its 17 shopping centres across the UK, said: "The pace of change here is accelerating.
"We bought Merry Hill because we think it provides a great opportunity. I would hope this can be one of our best performing assets in the next five to 10 years, if not the best."
Intu bought half of Merry Hill from Westfield for £407.7m in 2014 and purchased the other half from Australian investment group QIC for £410m this summer.
It also owns part of the surrounding retail park and a section of the neighbouring Waterfront office complex.
Mr Roberts said intu was looking to bring a new car showroom to the retail park, while there would also be refurbishment work at the Waterfront.
But he predicted most of the £100m would be spent within the shopping centre itself.
"We have done some of the basics, given it a lick of paint and installed some new escalators near the Asda supermarket," said Mr Roberts. There would also be work on improving the look of the centre's entrances.
Bringing in new restaurants was also a key focus, he said, as Merry Hill becomes more of a leisure destination for families.
Across intu's 17 UK shopping centres around 13 per cent of space was given over to leisure, particularly restaurants.
"Here at intu Merry Hill it is about half that," said Mr Roberts, who said the store space left vacant by the collapse of BHS is currently the subject of talks with potential tenants.
Sainsbury's has revealed it will quit the centre after Christmas, after 27 years.
"We are sad to see Sainsbury's go," said Mr Roberts, but the space would be "attractive to a number of other retailers".
He said store chains wanted bigger 'flagship' units, like the new Top Shop and Top Man shop in the centre.
