Store to be unveiled (From South Wales Argus)

Store to be unveiled

2:10pm Monday 21st May 2007 in News By Jenny Brentnall

A DEAL with the major store due to anchor the £21million Kingsway Centre in Newport is likely to go through in the next two weeks.

The anchor tenant is expected to be a major national brand which will in turn help attract other key retailers to the completed centre, due to be entirely finished and open for business by late 2009.

It will be the third major store to be linked with the redeveloped city centre in the last year.

Last summer a long-awaited deal with Debenhams was confirmed by Modus Corovest and the city council.

Then this February, the Argus exclusively revealed plans for a large Marks and Spencer store to form part of the same Friars Walk shopping centre.

A spokeswoman for centre owners UBS Global Asset Management said interest in the new Kingsway units was high and they hoped to announce deals with a number of leading retailers soon.

Several stores have already relocated within the centre and are trading as usual, including Jessops and Claire's Accessories.

Work on the redevelopment is already underway and demolition started this week to prepare for more new shops in John Frost Square, which will be completed by January.

Some units next to the library are already under construction and are due to be finished by mid-September.

A new roof has been installed in the mall area and a new glazed roof covering Bridge Square is likely to be finished by the middle of next month.

Construction of the new nine-storey car park, which will have more than 1,000 places, is also ongoing.

Plans for the new-look Kingsway shopping centre include total refurbishment of the internal malls, along with a new food court and the 55,000 sq ft anchor store.

The whole scheme is expected to be finished by autumn 2009, in time for the 2010 Ryder Cup being hosted by the city.