Royal London Asset Management has raised the curtain on the Mayfair Quarter, its renamed redevelopment and repurposing of Lancashire Court off New Bond Street in London's West End, as the ink dries on a lease to private members' club Soho House for a new location.
The estate is a 2-acre freehold site between New Bond Street and Avery Row, stretching up to Brook Street at the north and Grosvenor Street at the south. Rebecca Guzman Vidal, senior asset manager at RLAM, says it is already proving a hit with luxury retailers and restaurants that increasingly have to look at the area surrounding core Bond Street to find a prime pitch in London's most exclusive shopping area.
She says alongside Lazari's proposed redevelopment of the adjacent former Fenwick's department store, which gained consent last night [2 April], the Mayfair Quarter project is creating a new gateway into the area.
Guzman Vidal, who is fluent in French and Italian and has been in Paris and Milan recently talking to potential tenants, says Gucci was a milestone move. The Italian fashion house opened a 15,000-square foot store at 144-146 New Bond Street last year, replacing the boutique located at 34 Old Bond Street.
"Gucci's move down Bond Street really was a big statement, with other names also making moves further away from the historic centre, such as Moncler, Jacquemus, Smythson and Celine."
Jonathan De Mello, CEO and founder of JDM Retail Consulting, says the trend is established. "Whilst Bond Street is always the address of choice for luxury retailers, the sheer volume of high-end brands that want to acquire space on the street, but can't necessarily afford the rent, means that alternative streets and areas are increasingly coming to the fore."
Anthony Selwyn, who is co-head of global retail at Savills and is advising RLAM alongside Colliers, says Mayfair Quarter has an important advantage. "The beauty of Mayfair Quarter compared to Bond Street is that it plays a supporting role on the food and beverage side. People struggle on Bond Street to find somewhere nearby to eat so it will make a real difference to that side of Bond Street with the restaurants that open."
Selwyn says the story of retailers spreading their wings further afield is not particularly driven by finding cheaper rents. "The beauty of the luxury market is there are so many different layers. With Bond Street the real change that is happening is there is a proper extension to Bond Street prime, which is the central location for apparel. For Mayfair Quarter, the fact that Victoria's Secret has moved out and the Fenwick's department store is being redeveloped, means two chunks of neighbouring retail that had become quite narrow in terms of footfall are being redeveloped. To the north of this on New Bond Street some of the recent deals have been relocations such as Canali Boutique, Opera Gallery and Georg Jensen, but there have been newcomers like [Turkish jeweller] Kismet, Diptyque and Diamond Lab fitting out at 109 Bond Street. Other brands that decide against the top end of Bond Street in favour of say Conduit Street or Albemarle Street, want a different, maybe slightly more sophisticated location."
Another critical factor in recent years has been luxury retailers buying their own buildings on Bond Street, forcing other brands to look further afield. Examples include Richemont buying 50 New Bond Street alongside Oxford Properties. Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Prada and Sotheby's have all bought assets on the street.
RLAM's Mayfair Quarter comprises 34 buildings, a mix of retail, leisure, offices and residential. The largest part of the redevelopment the overhaul of Victoria's Secret's former 60,000-square-foot flagship at 111-117 New Bond Street to make way for a building split into three shops with offices above. The lingerie group has moved into a hub inside the Next store at 120 Oxford Street, and is understood to be taking another store on Oxford Street.
The asset manager's plans for the space comprise a 6,400-square-foot corner shop on ground, first floor and basement, an 11,402-square-foot store in the middle, and another 4,513-square-foot store.
Guzman Vidal says the smaller sizes are what retailers are now demanding. "The 60,000-square-foot flagship store was just too big."
RLAM took on the estate when it took on the Co-operative Insurance Society mandate in 2012 from AXA and has been working on an overhaul in response to the impact of the COVID-19 lockdowns on tenants and the increasing spread of Bond Street's appeal to leading retail occupiers into neighbouring streets.
Tenants already include Diptyque Paris, Issey Miyake, the Handel & Hendrix in London Museum, which is dedicated to composer George Frideric Handel and rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix, and Boss. But RLAM, with Savills and Colliers as leasing agents, is in the process of signing a number of new entrants.
Creative industries private members club Soho House, which has six other addresses in the capital, has now taken the 9,000-square-foot former Hush restaurant at 8 Lancashire Court on a 15-year lease. The group gained consent in February from Westminster Council for the refurbishment of a restaurant that was a favourite of UK property people, notably acting as something of a canteen for JLL when it had its West End headquarters on Hanover Square.
The plans are for at ground floor level, a dining area with bar, providing approximately 50 covers. There will seating and lounge areas on the first floor and seating, lounge areas and private rooms on the second floor. In total there will be 170 internal covers.
In February Soho House announced it was shutting its doors to new members in London, New York and Los Angeles following complaints that its city centre clubs had become overcrowded. Its members reportedly include Prince Harry and wife Meghan, Justin Timberlake, Jessica Biel and Leonardo DiCaprio.
The Royal London team has also recently secured planning permission to redesign the quarter and the public yard, with a particular focus on making it greener and improving the entrances into a slightly closed-off area. Its plans for the public realm include the retrofit of buildings and three green walls.
Guzman Vidal says the group wants to bring life back to the quarter, for its occupiers, for shoppers and for the residents that live there too. "We might sign a wellness studio for instance and then it would be a great idea if they held yoga classes in the quarter in the morning."
According to RLAM adviser Colliers, the Mayfair Quarter itself has seen year-on-year growth ahead of Regent Street and Sloane Street since 2019, with spending across the development in 2023 being 44% higher than in 2019.