Chorley completes £23m shopping centre deal

CHORLEY Council has completed its £23m acquisition of the town’s Market Walk shopping centre.

Council members voted in favour of the deal last month but the plan was divisive with 25 councillors voting for and 18 against with one abstention.

The authority has bought the site from Orchard Street Investments which acquired it in 2011 for £22.5m from RREEF Real Estate, the property arm of Deutsche Bank’s asset and wealth management division. The 100,000 sq ft centre has 35 units, four of which are empty.

Council leader Alistair Bradley said: “It will bring an income stream from the shop rentals that will not only cover the cost of the loan repayments, but will also bring in vital funds which we can use to invest in the town centre or council services to benefit residents.

“With cuts in our budget from central government, we’ve had to look at new ways of bringing more money in. Market Walk was owned by an investment company so all the profits were going out of the borough.

“Also there was the danger that if Market Walk continued to be bought and sold as an investment, no money would be spent on it and rather than it be the successful and profitable concern it is now, it would fall into a state of disrepair which would have a major impact on our town centre.”