THE Mall Marlands shopping centre in Southampton has been sold as part of a £136m deal.

Property and asset manager Capital and Regional has offloaded it to Rockspring Investment Managers as part of a quartet of shopping centres sold to cut debt at its Mall investment fund.

The centre, on Southampton’s Above Bar Street, will now be run as part of a group, together with others in Gloucester, Romford and Falkirk, by a specially created management company called The Other Retail Group (ORG).

It promises to be a new start for the shopping centre, which has suffered since the opening of rival WestQuay and, more recently, in the tough retail environment created by the economic slump.

The new owners immediately plan to rebrand the four stores before introducing new retailers to fill the empty shop spaces and compete with WestQuay.

Alastair Bell, of ORG, said: “We see a real future for the Marlands as a shopping centre complementing WestQuay with 60 shops across two floors.

“We have plans to add new retailers to the first floor, which will make Southampton an even stronger shopping location.”

Lawyers from the Southampton office of Bond Pearce advised Rockspring on what is a landmark deal for Southampton.

Anna Robbins, at Bond Pearce, said: “This is one of the largest transactions in Southampton city centre since the property market crashed and it’s great to be involved in such big deals on our doorstep.

“We’ll enjoy working with Alastair Bell and John Wood to see real changes to the Marlands over the next year.”

Bond Pearce will continue to work with Rockspring and ORG in their management, letting and development of the three English shopping centres.