Council completes cut-price Cleveland Centre buy

Middlesbrough Council has bought the Cleveland Centre for £12m. The 411,960 sq ft shopping centre represents 30% of the overall retail space in the town centre. The deal represents an 85.8% drop on its previous sale price. Mauritius-based former owner New Frontier Properties previously bought the centre in 2015 for £85m, as part of a £284m package deal including Coopers Square in Burton upon Trent and Houndshill Shopping Centre in Blackpool. Andy Preston, mayor of Middlesbrough, said the council was “stepping in to save” the mall and that it was breathing new life into the town centre. Preston said the council’s investment strategy seeks to better rebalance the town centre’s mix of retail, leisure and residential. “We’ve played a patient waiting game, driven a hard bargain and hammered down the price,” said Preston. He added: “The Cleveland Centre is home to many thriving shops and that will be the case for a long time to come, but changing retail patterns means we can no longer rely solely on retail to attract people into our town centre. “Now that we own the Cleveland Centre along with Captain Cook Square, we can help to consolidate and support our retail offer and look to the future with confidence and ambition.” The authority’s acquisitions in recent years also includes a House of Fraser site. New Frontier has been under pressure since it breached its loan-to-value covenants on loans provided by two lenders, HSBC and Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, in 2018. The Houndshill centre was sold in 2019 to Blackpool council after it fell into receivership. HSBC held the loans for the Middlesbrough and Burton centres, which were set to mature this year. To send feedback, e-mail pui-guan.man@eg.co.uk or tweet @PuiGuanM or @EGPropertyNews