2 weeks Ago
A developer is still being sought to remodel the old Marks and Spencer building in the town centre as a “stand alone project”. This comes with works set to move forward on demolishing Crompton Place ahead of a much-trailed redevelopment project. Bolton Council’s cabinet heard earlier this week how despite the plans for Crompton Place, the authority had still not found a development partner for the former M&S building on Deansgate.
Opposition leader Cllr Martyn Cox said: “It was with some urgency, if I remember rightly last time we met, that this needed to happen. “But from what I gather we don’t have a partner on board to develop this huge asset”. Crompton Place is set to be demolished (Image: Newsquest) The closure of Marks and Spencer has left a large gap on Deansgate since the retailer shut down in April last year citing “changing shopping habits”.
This sparked widespread concerns about the state of the high street. The council first bought the Marks and Spencer building in 2019 for around £15M in advance of its plans to redevelop the town centre. But despite the closure, the retailer did not surrender the lease on the building until March this year.
In response to Cllr Cox’s question, Bolton Council assistant director of regeneration and development Paul Whittingham said there had been discussion with various possible partners. He said that the authority had not been able to bring forward development partners for the old M&S until it was certain about the demolition of neighbouring Crompton Place . ALSO READ: Town centre building 'would have been boarded up two years' without deal ALSO READ: M&S agreement approved in big boost to Crompton Place plan ALSO READ: Questions over whether shopping centre space will be 'boarded up' after move The council had met to discuss a report on how this would go ahead.
Mr Whittingham said: “This report gives us that certainty over the commitment to demolish Crompton Place and will enable us to have detailed discussions with these developers and actually take it to the market”. Earlier in the meeting, Mr Whittingham had said that the council hoped to find a developer for the old M&S in a similar way to how they hoped to with Crompton Place itself. He said: “In the same way we’re going out to seek developers on this project but we’re also separately going out to seek developers on M&S so that we can have very early discussions with developers to take forward M&S as a standalone project”.
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