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LONDON-Lend Lease is planning to buy a 50% stake in the ParkPlace retail development in Croydon, south London for ($177million). The Australian developer has signed an agreement withMinerva to purchase the interest in the 85,000-sm shopping centerdevelopment, which will include a department store, 14 major spaceusers and more than 120 specialty shops.

Lend Lease's retail and communities division chief executive,Ross Taylor, says the investment was part of the company's strategyof growing its pipeline of UK retail opportunities. "We have afantastic opportunity to reposition the retail offering in Croydontown center" to capture more traffic. A Lend Lease statement addsthat the area surrounding the development had a high proportion ofaffluent 25-to-44 year-olds relative to the Greater Londonaverage.