Property developer secures occupant for controversial scheme
Liverpool property developer Ion, soon to complete work on its Lime Street development in the heart of the city, has revealed some of the retail space has been secured to discount supermarket Lidl.
The regeneration firm said it is in the final throes of transforming Lime Street as a key gateway area, with an hotel, student accommodation and further retail units “creating a new vision for an area in the city that needed investment”.
Lidl UK’s regional head of property, Stuart Jardine, said: “We are delighted to be opening a new store in the city centre of Liverpool, which marks another milestone in our ambitious store expansion programme.”
Steve Parry, managing director of Ion, formerly Neptune Developments, said: “It has always been important to us to reflect the roots of Lime Street through this development.
“Lime Street was traditionally a street where entertainment married harmoniously with retail.
“The façade created by Anthony Brown tells the story of the history of the street – from the penny bazaar to the cinemas and the milk bars.
“We want Lime Street to once again become a street that is busy with life, commerce and entertainment.”
Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, said: “I am pleased that the first phase of regeneration in the area is almost complete and it is welcome news that a mix of new retail and leisure facilities will soon be available.
“Not only is this an important economic boost, the development adds a new vibrancy as well as a new lease of life to this crucial part of the city centre.”
The Lime Street development is set for completion this month.
A 6,500 square-foot unit has been let to a pub and restaurant operator who will be named shortly. Ion says there is strong interest in the remaining 2,000 sq ft unit.
Liverpool City Council has recently appointed a team to develop a Spatial Regeneration Framework for the Lime Street gateway into the city’s Knowledge Quarter to build on the work carried out by Ion.
The Lime Street site was subject to furious protests by campaigners, including Liverpool-born ‘Sex And The City’ TV star Kim Cattrall, angry at the demolition of a row of buildings which included the iconic Futurist cinema to make room for the new scheme.
A battle to preserve the building, which was opened in 1912, or even its Georgian-styled façade, went to the London Court of Appeal.
A public petition to ‘Save the Futurist Cinema’ gathered more than 4,000 signatures.
The Ion scheme was denounced as “monolithic and bleak”.
