Hammerson is finalising changes to its retail and leisure leasing advisers across most of its UK and Ireland portfolio as part of its ongoing efficiency drive and its pivot towards city centre destinations, CoStar News can reveal.
The move by the real estate investment trust follows its appointment of JLL for property management services across its portfolio in 2023 and mirrors similar moves by Landsec and the Crown Estate to consolidate their leasing advisers.
The REIT is close to picking all of its strategic partners to reflect a more streamlined focus on city centre destinations with major development opportunities attached. In the UK and Ireland, Hammerson has stakes in and asset manages a number of the largest shopping centres.
At the 914,000-square-foot Brent Cross shopping centre in north west London, which it owns jointly with Standard Life Investments, it is understood to have picked Cushman & Wakefield and BGP. Lunson Mitchenall and Cushman & Wakefield had been the agents.
In Birmingham, it has the 1.7 million square foot Bullring estate, which it owns with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. It is expected to pick BWD, JLL and BGP as its advisers. At the 500,000-square-foot Grand Central BWD is agent.
At the 1.4 million-square-foot Cabot Circus in Bristol it is understood to have picked JLL and Lunson Mitchenall as advisers. The same advisers are expected to be appointed at the Westquay mall in Southampton.
It is understood to still be picking advisers at in Ireland at the 1.5 million-square-foot Dundrum Town Centre, which it jointly owns with Allianz Real Estate, The Ironworks, The Ilac Centre and Swords Pavilions, all in Dublin.
Other assets in the UK where advisers are being picked are Martineau Galleries in Birmingham and The Oracle in Reading.
In a statement Hammerson said: ""As part of our ongoing focus to drive efficiencies and create an agile more sustainable platform, Hammerson is undertaking a review of its agency partners. We look forward to providing an update in due course.”
Major retail landlords have consolidated agencies on individual assets into a smaller number working across entire portfolios.
The Crown Estate employed a number of the UK's leading retail agents across London, including CBRE, JLL, Colliers and Nash Bond before appointing Cushman & Wakefield, Colliers International and KLM Real Estate as its advisers across its portfolio in 2022.
In May 2022 Landsec appointed a new leasing agent panel, to work across its retail and hospitality portfolio, reducing the number of advisers from 31 to five. The selected parties were: CBRE, BGP, Colliers, Curson Sowerby Partners and Time Retail Partners. CBRE works across the entire portfolio.