Leisure scheme earmarked for Debenhams’ Stockport site

STOCKPORT Council is set to buy the large Debenhams unit next to the Merseyway shopping centre with a view kick-starting a mixed-use leisure and retail scheme on the site.

The council’s executive will be asked to approve financing the purchase of the leasehold on the Debenhams  store for an undisclosed sum. Its intention will be to replace the building and car parking with a new mixed-use scheme at Bridgefield that will be anchored by a new Debenhams and new leisure operators.

The council already owns the freehold to the building, but the opportunity to buy the leasehold suddenly became available when its owners, Ambassador Holdings, fell into receivership.

Council leader Cllr Dave Goddard said the purchase would give the council control over the type of scheme which could be brought forward and ensure it complements the neighbouring Merseyway shopping centre.

He added that the project would be more manageable than the £500m project proposed at Bridgefield by developer Lend Lease until it abandoned its plans three years ago.

If the executive grants approval, the council may decide to bring forward an outline planning application for the site before appointing a developer to de-risk the scheme. It has already held talks with Debenhams, whose lease does not expire until 2036, about anchoring the scheme.

Talks have also taken place with Cineworld to see if the operator is willing to open a new multiscreen complex at the site following the closure of its unit at Grand Central, which was bought by the council for £15m from administrators last year with a view to triggering a major office-led development.

Cllr Goddard said: “When we bought Grand Central a year ago some people had a sharp intake of breath, but you’ve got to go out and make things happen. We’re at a situation 12 months later where things are happening at Grand Central.”

The council’s service director for regeneration, Paul Lawrence, said that since the purchase the council had moved through the OJEU process to appoint Muse as development partner for a £140m, office-led scheme.

It has also secured a £5m grant from Network Rail to provide a new car park. It will soon begin work on demolishing both the former Heaven & Hell nightclub and the Tenpin Bowling unit to provide temporary spacing until this is built.

The car park is part of an initial phase which will also contain a hotel, offices and substantial public realm linking the station to the town centre.

Mr Lawrence said that the council was close to securing two pre-lets with potential office occupiers and had been working with GMPVF – owner of the adjacent Royal Mail sorting office site – about links between their projects.

Cllr Goddard said: “We’ve stopped the masterplanning and we’ve been trying to develop in bite-size chunks. But when you begin to connect them up it makes a real difference.”

Another major boost to regeneration in the town was announced on Monday when the company which bought the 500-acre former Woodford aerodrome site from BAE announced that it had agreed a joint venture with Harrow Estates to bring forward a masterplan for the site.

“There was some uncertainty surrounding the ownership of the site, but that’s now been resolved and we know who we’re working with,” said Mr Lawrence.

“Harrow Estates are now working with us on the masterplan and the supplementary planning guide for the site.”

Harrow Estates is a subsidiary of housebuilding giant Redrow, and on a recent visit to the site Cllr Goddard said its chairman Steve Morgan recently visited the site and expressed the view that its location was potentially the best in the region.

Mr Lawrence added: “We think people have wanted to invest in Stockport for a long time. Our job is to make it easier for them to do it.”

The Merseyway shopping centre has been in the hands of LPA receivers for almost three years since the collapse of its previous owners, but the scheme has held up well.

Managing agent GVA has brought in new tenants such as Primark which helped to boost footfall by over 6% last year. In the week prior to Christmas footfall increased by 20% to 300,000.