The province of Western Flanders has approved final planning for a Jumbo grocery store in Middelkerke, next to the Euro Shop superstore and in the middle of the Sea Shopping Center. The town of Middelkerke had already approved the permit but a number of direct competitors of Jumbo had lodged an appeal against it.

Gross surface area will be 2300M2 and the opening is anticipated towards the middle of next year.

This will be the first Jumbo owned by Vabeld.

Vabeld bought 5 properties in 5 separate transactions in the northern part of Western Flanders.

In Ostend, 2 adjacent stores in the Vlaanderenstraat were purchased. We will seek to change the use of at least one unit to leisure ( horeca).

In Bruges, 2 smaller assets were purchased on or in the immediate vicinity of the Markt, one retail and one leisure.

Finally, in Knokke, an agreement was signed for the acquisition of a restaurant near the casino.

It shows that Vabeld is still actively expanding its holdings in high footfall locations that have potential both for retail and leisure.

Vabeld is proud to announce that it concluded 2 new leases starting August 1^st.

In Bruges, the former H&M unit in the Zuidzandstraat is leased to the Dutch chain and new market entrant called SoLow. This store is a big unit of 854M2 of ground floor space as well as a commercially usable basement.

In Lommel, a local fashion retailer with several existing stores is the new tenant of the former Esprit / Takko corner unit in the Kerkstraat.

In Gravesend, Vabeld UK has now completed the redevelopment of the former BHS store on New Road, which closed in 2016.

After having already refit the basement and most of the ground floor to house the DWP and Pure Gym, the remainder of the property has been relet to restaurant operator GDK and leisure operator Panic Room. Both are expected to open their doors for the public over the summer.

Vabeld UK was advised by Coplan Estates for the redeveloment and Wrather Property for reletting.