Work on a Sheffield retail quarter, which was originally planned to commence in 2009, will not start until 2015 at the earliest, according to the London-based developer behind the scheme.
Hammerson, which announced it was moving forward with its Eastgate Quarter development in Leeds, said it was still trying to decide whether Sheffield’s Sevenstone idea was a “viable project”.
Under the original contract, which was signed with Sheffield Council six years ago, the company should have completed a revamp of the city centre by now, but it was put on the back burner during the recession.
Earlier this year, John Mothersole, Sheffield Council’s chief executive told the Yorkshire Post he was confident of a 2014 start date, after offering Hammerson a further £45m to get started.
At first John Lewis signed up for a new store in the project then pulled out, yet has now suggested it may be willing to commit to a new store again, however uncertainty still hangs over the whole plan.
Sheffield Council announced last Friday that all three key players “remain committed to delivering on the city’s Sevenstone retail project” and said it was expected to start on site in 2014/15.
It is expected that the new scheme will include up to 700,000 sq. ft. of retail space with wide-ranging food and entertainment venues along with a high quality public realm and multi-storey car park.
The extra money presented by the council has been made available as a result of its City Deal with the Government, which allows it to issue money which it will recover later through business rates.
Plans have been scaled back considerably over the last few years, with the budget dropping from £600m to £300m.
Sheffield Council’s business spokesman, Leigh Bramall said: “We are working tirelessly to kick-start the regeneration of the city centre through the Sevenstone development.
“The scheme has stalled in recent years, in part due to the continued weakness of the global economy, but we want to do everything we can to make this happen.
“We want the city centre to flourish, we want to deliver our ambitions, boost the city region’s economy and provide 1,000 jobs for the people of Sheffield.”
“The council has worked on an innovative scheme which allows the use of New Development Deal powers to speed up delivery of the new retail quarter by injecting funds into the development.
“This involves using the new additional business rates that will be generated from the new scheme to ease constraints which stifle the project at the moment.”
Bramall further added: “We are keen to get the scheme up and running but these things take time, we must make sure that we have a viable scheme that works for all partners involved and means that the scheme will be delivered.”
The news on Sevenstone came as developer Westfield confirmed its plan to begin work later this year on a major shopping centre in Bradford.
In a directors’ report, the Australian-based company said it expected to begin work on two major Australian developments and one in the UK – the £260m Broadway shopping centre in Bradford city centre, which is several years overdue.
The news follows the recent council go-ahead for Debenhams, an anchor store at the planned Bradford development, to increase its floor space from two to three floors.
Businesses and shoppers have been waiting for years for the shopping project to get off the ground. It is more than seven years since the site was cleared of buildings.
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