The Cotswold Retail Park – an £11.6 million development including a new Lidl supermarket – has been launched today in Cheltenham by the town’s mayor at a grand opening ceremony.
Mayor of Cheltenham Councillor Bernard Fisher cut a ribbon as the doors opened for the first time this morning to Lidl customers at the Tewkesbury Road store.
The development, which also includes a Starbucks Drive-thru, has been delivered by Worcestershire-based commercial property developer the Hinton Group.
In a joint venture with the landowner, the development, which has 142 parking spaces, was built on the site of a former BMW car dealership. Construction took 30 weeks to reach completion. The Lidl supermarket is 29,644 sq ft ‘with 1,690 sqm sales area, while the Starbucks Drive-thru extends to 2,000 sq ft.
Development director Jon Hinton said: “It’s great to see the official launch of the Cotswold Retail Park. This has been a very successful development, delivered to exacting requirements and strict timescales.
“Along with the Starbucks Drive-thru, it brings an exciting addition to the retail sector in Cheltenham. It’s great to see the supermarket fitted out and ready to welcome its first customers.”
The project was funded by LaSalle Investment Management (LIM) acting on behalf of the Nationwide Pension Fund.
Glen Stidever, Lidl UK’s regional head of property, said: “Hinton has offered a high standard, professional and proactive service from initial engagement, which has been sustained throughout the subsequent project stages from legal, through to planning, and finally through to the store build.
“Hinton, importantly, fully understood our store specification and business requirements from the outset, and went on to fully adhere to target timescales set throughout the entire process. Their friendly and personable team has assisted in the creation of a good working relationship, and we look forward to working with them on many new projects in the future.”
Bromsgrove-based Hinton Group is a privately owned company specialising in land acquisition, development, architectural design and construction, principally for the retail and leisure sectors. It has been delivering innovative development solutions for over two decades and to date Hinton Group has developed over 1.5 million sq ft of commercial, retail, leisure and office space.
