Meadowhall expansion plans played down
REPORTS that the owners of the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield could be set to expand on land next to the site have been played down.
According to reports yesterday, British Land and London & Stamford are considering an expansion of the retail space at Meadowhall shopping centre that will turn the Sheffield site into one of the UK’s five largest shopping destinations.
However, British Land said it had no definite plans for the site.
As reported by TheBusinessDesk.com last August, British Land has outline planning permission to build around 1m sq ft of offices, 1,300 homes and a hotel on a 60 acre site it owns near Meadowhall, which already boasts 1.4m sq ft of retail space and 250 stores.
The proposed scheme is known as Meadowhall Metropolitan. It is not thought that the existing shopping centre would be physically linked to any new structure.
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Meadowhall, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2010, is jointly owned by British Land and London & Stamford Properties.
British Land said that although the group continued to look at developing the land around Meadowhall it had no firm plans.
Speaking to TheBusinessDesk.com last August, Meadowhall Centre director Darren Peace, said organisations with interest in the site were working together on the masterplan for the Lower Don Valley area.
British Land has previously said that although the company was cash rich, building the scheme speculatively would not be the best way forward for the scheme.
According to reports, the joint venture partners have lined up an anchor tenant for the development but they could face planning issues as they must prove to Sheffield City Council that half of the visitors to the extension will be existing Meadowhall customers, otherwise there could be traffic congestion.
Raymond Mould and Patrick Vaughan’s London & Stamford, alongside their Middle Eastern partners, acquired a 50% stake in Meadowhall for £587.7m from British Land in 2009.
That deal did not include the development land next to Meadowhall. However, London & Stamford has an option to acquire a stake in the site from British Land at “market value”.
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