After much speculation, the anchor store has finally been announced.
Westfield and Hammerson have announced that an agreement has been reached with the John Lewis Partnership to bring a joint John Lewis and Waitrose store to the huge Whitgift redevelopment.
The announcement, made on Thursday morning (May 31) means a huge four-storey John Lewis will be the key store in the £1.4billion development.
The Croydon Partnership say the 165,000 sq ft anchor store will have a Waitrose on the ground floor and three floors dedicated to the department store.
After being the green light by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, and unanimously approved by Croydon Council’s planning committee, it is expected the new Westfield shopping centre will begin construction next year.
It is estimated that between 6,270 and 7,048 full-time-equivalent jobs will be created throughout the whole Westfield development, while a minimum of 626 flats will be built, though that figure could rise as high as 967 in up to five tower blocks – 20 per cent of which will be available at rents below market rates.
There had been doubts over whether a John Lewis department store would feature in the development after the company last year announced it would no longer be opening new stores.
The development, which is set to bring 7,000 jobs to Croydon, has been called “crucial” by the Mayor.
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