Costa Coffee has been confirmed as the first tenant – after supermarket Booths – in the new £30m Hale Barns Square.
The coffee chain has agreed lease terms on a 1,491 sq ft unit, one of five units to face onto a public space alongside Booths.
The main 30,000 sq ft unit – 10 times the size of the previous Co-operative Food store – was pre-let to Booths before construction even began on the site.
The new Costa will have space for 57 people inside and 24 externally, and work will be underway soon on a £250,000 fit-out. All staff have already been hired for the new outlet.
It was originally scheduled to open on April 20th, but a delay in construction work means that date has now been pushed back to May 30th.
According to Adam Gross, from developers Citybranch, interest in the remaining retail units on the site has been very high, although terms have yet to be finalised on any of them.
He expects to be able to confirm the identities of some of the other new occupants of the square over the next few weeks, but could not guarantee that all the units would be taken by the time Booths and Costa are due to open in April.
Below: The Hale Barns Square apartments, with the retail units below. Costa Coffee will be on the far left
Costa’s arrival is a coup for the new square, which now has two well-known and well-regarded brands in place who are both likely to generate considerable footfall.
It continues a busy time for the Whitbread-owned company in Altrincham after the recent opening of its new outlet in Timperley village.
The new square also features 24 two and three-bedroomed apartments, starting at £249,950, with 169 parking spaces in a two-deck car park.
Property company Development Securities acquired the site, formerly a rundown 1960s shopping precinct, in March 2010, with planning consent for the redevelopment secured in 2011.
Its plans were held up when Hale Barns Post Office, Admirals fish and chip shop and Hale Barns Tandoori restaurant refused to move out.
But after a public inquiry in February 2013, the government rubberstamped a recommendation from its planning inspector to grant compulsory purchase orders for the three businesses, and construction on the site began in November 2013.
Below: The new Hale Barns Square development facing on to Hale Road
Below: The new square between the retail outlets and the new Booths store (on the right)
