Riverside Shopping Centre in Hemel Hempstead will be upgraded and expanded following the completion of a long leasehold purchase.
DSBG Riverside HH Limited (DSBG), a joint venture between Bugler Group and DS Real Estate, has announced its plan to revitalise the shopping centre.
The shopping centre is already home to some of Britain’s best-loved brands such as TK Maxx, H&M and Next, as well as a 113-room Premier Inn hotel.
DSBG now plans to extend the retail centre more than 270,000 sq ft and rejuvenate the area.
A spokesperson for DSBG said: “DSBG, alongside the established Riverside management team, are excited to be opening this new chapter for Hemel Hempstead, bringing a rejuvenated shopping and hospitality proposition to the area.”
Simon Miller, director at DS Real Estate, said: “An exciting future lies ahead. We aim to attract new opportunities for Riverside, including an enhanced retail offering and modernising the premises.”
Photo credit: Bugler Group
That doesn’t tell us anything. There’s plenty of empty stores there, why does it need expanding?
Does this include redevelopment or refurbishment of theDebenhams unit?
No good rejuvenating it if you’ve got no shops to fill it ,it’s a ghost town coffee shops and charity shops rather go to Watford.
Hemel need to full fill empty shops units and bring Hemel to life and give Young people opportunity to work and get paid jobs. It would bring more business to Hemel Hempstead for the future.
The town needs a proper restaurant/ bar/ evening entertainment area, similar to Milton Keynes… there is no where good to go so everyone goes to berkhamsted or st albans, losing hemel lots of money. We are a big town full of people who have moved away from London, so please give them places to go.
This has been said before many times by many people, turn the old Debenhams site in to a music and entertainment venue like the old pavilion that was knocked down. With a hotel on the doorstep, direct major links to the M1/M25, bus terminal, restaurants with space to open more to cater for increase in footfall. Yes it may take a few quid, but it will generate jobs, bring back a much needed focal point for Hemel Hempstead. If DSBG have any sense, they need to seriously think about it.
Its disgusting for a town centre….Rubbish shops…all charity shops…takeaways…compared to Watford it is a pile of rubbish.Horrible town centre.
It’s much needed! I just hope that they dont turn Debenhams into flats!
For those who remember leisure world from back in the day, I was talking to my friends and we mentioned that we don’t have any places like that at all. Always having to have to go out of hemel.
It needs a lot of work, I remember when the riverside first opened up and it’s honestly aged horribly. Hoping hemel gets those units filled up aswell. We have a beautiful area that could have so much done to it. Unfortunately it’s never the case.
It was poorly designed in the first place with no footfall, half the premises have never been leased rented out, it needs a major overhaul.
Not just the Riverside, what about the rest of Marlowes? How about a new Arts Venue on the deserted Market Square?
The town has been suffering from many years of neglect by Dacorum Council. The new paving, seating and play areas have been left with no cleaning or repair, just a few years after it was installed. Empty shop units due to high rents and council taxes are keeping the big brands away… Hemel Hempstead must be the only town centre not to have a Costa Coffee… we need to know why that is? It’s not because Costa doesn’t want a store here! The Marlowes needs knocking down and rebuilding. No ther solution will work for this town!
The high street is a sad sight. The architecture is uninspired, flat and depressing. There’s so much space here for potential to bring in custom. Give people another reason to come, as you can’t compete with Watford with only rejuvenation. Plant cherry blossoms, install a central pond, let the Old Town breathe life into the “New Town”. If you give people good reasons to come, they will come.