The owners of Merry Hill shopping centre in the West Midlands have announced that the UK super-regional centre, spanning more than 1.4 million square feet of retail, hospitality and leisure, is being placed on the market.
Knight Frank is marketing the shopping centre in Brierley Hill, and is understood to be seeking in excess of £250 million, which would equate to a 9% yield.
The owners said Merry Hill is the 9th largest UK mall by spend potential and has undergone a £125 million investment programme in the last few years.
It is now over 96% let, following a landlord investment programme, active asset management by Sovereign Centros from CBRE, and a busy leasing strategy, the owners said. Footfall in 2025 is on course to top 15.5 million for the first time, to be accompanied by record sales performance, they added. A newly completed £15 million leisure quarter has driven footfall and increased sales on F&B and leisure. It won the Revo Gold award for Best Repurposing and Placemaking project in 2024.
The centre has stabilised its anchor tenants, introducing over 300,000 square feet of new and upgraded space from leisure concepts such as Hollywood Bowl and Funstation, alongside national debuts for Harvey Norman and XF Gym, and a revamped 100,000-square-foot M&S. The 92-acre site, which includes a fully let retail park, has also introduced ESG initiatives, with over 2,700 solar panels generating 25% of its operational electricity requirement and more than 100 EV chargers installed and in use.
The Merry Hill directors said in a statement: “The last few years have been transformational for Merry Hill, as investment, proactive asset management, and an effective leasing programme have combined to return it to its rightful place as a top 10 UK mall. Merry Hill is primed for the next stage of its journey, with several initiatives planned to cement its position in the super-regional hierarchy. Consequently, now is the right time for a new owner to take on an asset that is thriving to realise further value.”
Knight Frank has been appointed to manage the sale on behalf of Merry Hill’s owners. Sovereign Centros from CBRE asset manages Merry Hill, and its leasing agents are Time Retail Partners, JLL, and Font Real Estate.
Shopping centre group Intu, which owned Merry Hill, collapsed into administration in June 2020. It owned and operated 17 shopping centres across the UK including Trafford Centre, Lakeside and MetroCentre.
Each of the shopping centres was owned individually by special purpose vehicles, or propcos, which were outside of any insolvency process and continued to trade as normal under the control of their directors. Different asset managers were appointed at the malls, while some have been sold to new owners.
The consortium of lenders that own Merry Hill include Wells Fargo and Axa Investment Management.
Former Grosvenor director Miles Dunnett was appointed to the board overseeing the redevelopment of the shopping centre in 2021.