Brookhouse to overhaul Oldham retail park
BROOKHOUSE Properties is to redevelop the Alexandra retail park in Oldham through its joint venture company with Oldham Council.
The developer, which is based at Sale in Trafford, acquired the site in April and is now looking at options to redevelop the park, which is on the fringes of the town centre off the main A62 dual carriageway. The park currently contains a Matalan unit which is still trading profitably, but several other properties on the site are vacant.
“The idea is to bring forward a significant redevelopment of the site,” he said. “We’re in consultation with Oldham Council on that one at the moment.”
Also in the borough, the joint venture company – Oldham Property Partnerships – is on site with a new Aldi store on the same complex as the Tesco Extra which opened at Failsworth in 2007 and it is progressing with plans to redevelop the Failsworth Town Hall building for community use.
Brookhouse received £31m of new loans from Barclays earlier in January this year which the firm said would be used to make further acquisitions. The loans are part of a wider refinancing of its £110m worth of borrowings – £72.2m of which were due for replacement this year. New four and five year term loans have been agreed with its bankers.
Surveyor Mike Nuttall said that the company is in the fortunate position of not being very highly geared and in operating in a sector of the property market – foodstore-led retail development – that has proved to be resilient.
Newly-filed accounts for the year to September 24, 2010, show that the company’s net assets grew to £201m, from £183.6m. Turnover also increased by 3% to £17.9m, although pre-tax profits dropped to £8.2m (2009: £10.4m).
He added that the company was continuing to perform well “despite the negative press of the property market generally”.
Last week, it submitted a detailed planning application for an £80m supermarket-led scheme in Preston city centre, despite an objection by Countryside Properties which has gained planning permission for the redevelopment of a neighbouring site into 600 apartments.
Brookhouse had already gained outline planning approval for the redevelopment of the Queen’s Retail Park into a supermarket, hotel and car parking in an area known as Horrock’s Quarter and last week’s application was to build a 78,000 sq ft foodstore.
“We’re hoping to get that determined by the end of the year so that we’ll be able to start on site in 2012,” said Nuttall. “There’s a lot of interest in it and we’re in pretty detailed negotiations with two of the country’s biggest foodstore operators.”
Brookhouse also recently started on site this week with an 8,000 sq ft extension to a Tesco foodstore built on the site of the former BICC works and it is in talks with a retailer to take the remaining 27,500 sq ft unit at its Manchester Road retail park in Stockport, where it has been recladding one unit occupied by Wickes and is currently refitting another for Halfords.
“These are all owned by Brookhouse and leased out,” he said. “We’re a developer/investor, not a developer-trader. We hold all of our assets for the long term.”
The firm also began work this week on the conversion of the derelict Grade II-listed White Lion pub at Withington in south Manchester, on the prominent corner site at the junction with Palatine Road and Didsbury Road.
The lower floor of the building will become a Sainsbury’s supermarket while the upper floor is being converted into six flats.
Brookhouse Properties began life in the 1930s as a residential developer. It currently owns around 1.5m sq ft of retail property across the UK – of which 400,000 sq ft is specifically food retail.
