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PRESS RELEASE
8th January 2021
SOVEREIGN CENTROS CEO CHRIS GEAVES GIVES HIS 2021 FORECAST
Everyone here at Sovereign Centros is trying hard to look to the future whilst we endure yet another lockdown. Here’s what our Chief Executive Chris Geaves hopes we can expect from 2021.
“My biggest hope is that Covid-19 gets suppressed and life returns to a degree of normality, enabling businesses to operate as normal.
Despite all the headwinds, Sovereign Centros had a very successful 2020 so the hope is to repeat that in 2021. We expanded our asset and development management platform particularly in the shopping centre and retail park arenas.
The impact of almost a year of Covid has created a shift in what both shoppers and retailers want from commercial and shopping spaces. There will be much more defined categorisation of retail assets between prime and secondary dictated to a large degree by occupier demand. It is plain to see where retailers want to be by the way they’ve negotiated through Covid talks.
Sadly, a lot of secondary retail assets will fail as they will not be relevant in the new emerging market. It will be a busy time for the banks, which will want to help steer best-in-class operators through the next 12 months. Innovative development solutions for alternative use will save some locations and reinvigorate others where there might seem little hope at present.