Grand Central, Birmingham

Grand Central
Map
LocationBirmingham, England
Coordinates52°28′39.98″N 1°53′55.86″W / 52.4777722°N 1.8988500°W / 52.4777722; -1.8988500
Opening date24 September 2015
DeveloperNetwork Rail
ManagementJonathan Cheetham
Owner
ArchitectHaskoll
No. of stores and services62
No. of anchor tenants1 (John Lewis and Partners) (formerly)
Total retail floor areac. 500,000 sq ft (46,000 m2)
No. of floors1
Parking450 Spaces, including 23 Disabled spaces, and 13 Parent & Child spaces
Websitebullring.co.uk

Grand Central (formerly The Pallasades Shopping Centre, previously Birmingham Shopping Centre) is a shopping centre located above New Street railway station in Birmingham, England, that opened in 1971 as Birmingham Shopping Centre. In 1989, it was largely refurbished and reopened on 17 September 1990 as The Pallasades Shopping Centre. The centre underwent a mass redevelopment in 2014, opening on 24 September 2015 as Grand Central. It is currently[when?] owned by Hammerson and CPPIB, having been acquired from Birmingham City Council in January 2016 for £335m.[1] When coupled with the Bullring (to which it is connected via a footbridge, branded as "LinkStreet") it forms the United Kingdom's largest city centre-based shopping centre, styled Bullring & Grand Central.

History

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The original centre was built in 1971 as part of the reconstruction of New Street Station below. It was known as the Birmingham Shopping Centre before being renamed The Pallasades.

Redevelopment

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As part of the New Street Station Gateway Plus redevelopment, Grand Central underwent a major overhaul, which included a six-year long programme of enabling works by a Birmingham demolition contractor, Colemans, formerly Coleman & Co. The mall has been redesigned with a Texlon ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE)[2] atrium roof as centrepiece, and it has over 60 stores across 500,000 square feet (46,000 m2) with John Lewis as the main tenant. Many of the shops, restaurants and cafés are new to the city including Cath Kidston, The White Company, Kiehls, Giraffe and Tapas Revolution. It reopened in September 2015 along with the modernised Birmingham New Street station.[3]

The shopping centre's name is given to the adjacent tram stop that opened in May 2016.[4]

The modern architecture of the new Grand Central shopping centre

John Lewis announced in 2020 that its store would not reopen after being closed during the COVID-19 restrictions.

Grand Central was selected as a filming location for the 2023 film Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.

References

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  1. ^ "Hammerson buys Birmingham's Grand Central shopping centre". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  2. ^ "Birmingham Grand Central Shopping Mall". Vector Foiltec. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  3. ^ Brown, Graeme (31 July 2014). "New lettings revealed for Grand Central". Birmingham Post. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  4. ^ "A bit more Metro...now serving Grand Central". Midland Metro. 25 May 2016. Archived from the original on 21 August 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
    - Brown, Graeme (30 May 2016). "Midland Metro trams head to Birmingham New Street for first time". Birmingham Mail.
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