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CLARENCE DOCK ANNOUNCES EIGHT ANCHOR RESTAURANTS

Developer Crosby Lend Lease has announced that eight new restaurants are to open at its eye-catching £260 million development, Clarence Dock. The news comes as Leeds' largest mixed use destination reaches completion with 1.2 million sq ft of dynamic space that has transformed the city's waterside into a modern, vibrant and ultimate city destination.

Eight exciting restaurants and cafes are to anchor the scheme with plans to open between March and July this year. Crosby Lend Lease has been instrumental in achieving a mix of well known national brands and popular regional restaurants that have embraced the opportunity to design brand new concepts to suit the stylish and contemporary make-up of Clarence Dock.

Family favourite Pizza Express (4,500 sq ft) and Starbucks (1,500 sq ft) will take occupation along the development' central pedestrian boulevard. Overlooking the dock will be the upmarket Bradford based speciality Indian restaurant, Mumtaz (9,000 sq ft), visited by HRH Queen Elizabeth II, last year. The new restaurant will be situated on the ground floor of Mackenzie House. A staunch favourite of many Bollywood actors and politicians Mumtaz is launching a sizzling new concept to open in summer - a plan that has been in the pipeline for sometime and now able to realise this ambition. Mumtaz will also offer a food emporium style offer stocking all ingredients needed for authentic food.

Bringing a new chic and trendy cafe concept to Leeds is Cafe Aagrah (2,500 sq ft). The cafe will feature a Central Kitchen Theatre and a fusion of Multi Cuisine served in a fast casual environment. The Aagrah Group is well known across Yorkshire and is recognised nationally and internationally for its outstanding authentic Kashmiri cuisine.

@larocca (9,000 sq ft) will be the trading name of Lancashire based Tiggis which first opened in 1978 in Preston and expanded into St Annes, Bolton and Solihull. Located in a prime position at the head of the dock and specialising in authentic Tuscan food created by some of Italy's finest chef's, the £2 million restaurant will be open seven days a week, offering great business lunches plus a special brunch on Sunday. A piano cocktail bar and entertainment area will provide an all day to evening offer opening in April. The Roast (2,000 sq ft) which is known for its perfect bacon sandwiches will open its third restaurant in Leeds and will serve quality home made food and true British tapas such as Toad in the Hole and mini Shepherd's Pie.

London Clubs International will be opening a £15 million 65,000 sq ft casino Alea and will provide visitors with the very latest in slots, electronic gaming and a full range of banker's games. Working closely with Crosby Lend Lease, London Clubs International is using Clarence Dock as a platform for new formats and will open two restaurants, five feature bars, a members' cinema; a card room, attracting both local and national tournaments as well as state of the art conference facilities. There will also be a dedicated area for live entertainment, with a varied programme of acts to suit different membership preferences.

Simon Kidd, Commercial Lettings Director at Clarence Dock comments: We are delighted to announce these new signings and as the venues open over the coming months they will add a totally new dimension to Clarence Dock. Already the waterside destination is alive with activity born out of the successful completion and occupation of 1,100 luxury apartments on site. Tesco Express, which opened in January, has confirmed that it is already 30% above trading predictions which is testament to the captive audience along the city's waterfront.

Clarence Dock also includes 100,000 sq ft of prime office accommodation, a 1650 covered multi storey car park and a hotel. It is located directly adjacent to award winning visitor attraction The Royal Armouries that is predicting a rise to 500,000 visitors this year, and Saviles exhibition and conference centre that reported a £1.5 million turnover in its first six months of opening.

Crosby Lend Lease is now progressing deals with a number of exiting retail operators to complete the proposition. A mix of aspirational lifestyle and urban street fashion brands are seeking space and homeware, electronics, books and music brands are also being targeted.

Markham Vaughan Gillingham, BSB and Knight Frank represent Crosby Lend Lease.

The ALEA Casino at Clarence Dock is set to open in April this year. Before then the city's first water taxi will arrive, being moored at Clarence Dock and taking people up the river for meals and transport.

Gateway now has a gym and hairdressers and a convenience store shouldn't be far behind.

Other rumours include Starbucks and Armani coming to Clarence Dock in time for the summer.

Marks and Spencer will be joining John Lewis in the city's Eastgate Quarter development by launching one of their largest stores outside of London.

The 18,250 sq meter store will include a complete range of womenswear, menswear, childrenswear, as well as a full home offering, food hall with bakery and restaurant.

With the development also housing 600 new homes as well as the much talked about flagship John Lewis store it should make for some attractive property when it's completed in 2012.

The Eastgate Quarters development is a joint venture between Hammerson plc and Leeds-based Town Centre Securities plc. John Richards, Chief Executive of Hammerson, said: "I am delighted that one of the UK's most successful retailers has committed to our scheme. This is a major step forward in our bid to bring a retail offer of the highest quality to the people of Leeds and the surrounding areas. Securing Marks and Spencer as an anchor tenant is a great coup for the development.

While it may be four years away, this is promising news for those living in Leeds, even if by then we hope the problem of where to buy a pint of milk will be well and truly dead.

Construction work has begun on Lumiere, the KW Linfoot skyscraper that, once completed, will be the tallest residential building in Europe.

The building will occupy the space in front of West Point on Kirkstall Road (a previous Linfoot development). While this space is little more than a building site at present, this hasn't stopped sales from rocketing. Despite the recent bad press on city living in Leeds, 95% of the building's first phase have already been sold. David Waddington, sales and marketing director at KW Linfoot, places part of the building's early success on its position, saying: "This level of interest is testament to the scheme's exceptional proposition."

"There has been much negativity in the marketplace recently about the saturation of apartments in Leeds city centre," he continues. "Whilst we must all heed warnings about oversupply of mediocre product, our own experience is that the demand for high specification apartments within prime city centre pitch is still very much there."

With four years to completion it is estimated that the first residents will be moving in at the end of 2011.