Dolphin Shopping Centre Sold For £85M

The Dolphin Shopping Centre in Poole has been sold for £85 million.

The new owners, Wereldhave NV, say they want to make it bigger and turn it into “a regional shopping place.”

The Dolphin Centre was first built in 1969 and refurbished in the 1980’s and again in 2004 and at the moment has just over 100 shops and restaurants over two levels. These include Marks & Spencer, Primark, British Home Stores, New Look, River Island, Boots the Chemist, Next, TopShop, Burton and Dorothy Perkins.

Wereldhave say “there is significant potential to further modernise the centre and undertake development expanding (it).”

Hans Pars, CEO of Wereldhave N.V.has told Heart:

“This investment fits well with our strategy of focusing our UK operations on mid-sized shopping centre acquisitions in strong locations, which are dominant in their catchments. We are happy that we are acquiring an asset off low base rents so that, with good asset and development management, this can become a more regional centre and thus benefit from greater trade and rental growth. We see an attractive opportunity for further development to add to the existing retail offer to create a sustainable and successful shopping facility.”