Watford Borough Council snap up former Woolworths store (From Watford Observer)
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Watford Borough Council snap up former Woolworths store
6:00pm Wednesday 3rd June 2009 in News
Peter Mitchell, head of propety at Watford Borough Council, outside the former Woolworths store in Watford town centre.
Watford Borough Council has bought the former Woolworths store in the town centre.
The 45,000 sq ft, three floor unit, at 29/35 High Street, has been empty since Woolies closed its doors in January.
The purchase coincides with the announcement this week that the council is inviting tenders for the redevelopment of Charter Place – a scheme that could be worth between £150 million and £400 million.
The former Woolworths site is immediately adjacent to Charter Place, which is already owned by the council.
The council would not reveal the price they had paid for the former Woolies site, describing it as “commercially sensitive”, but Mayor Dorothy Thornhill said the purchase was a “great opportunity”.
She said: “We would have been mad not to have bought it. Despite the recession, completely refurbishing Charter Place is still a priority for the council."
The council will now seek to re-let its new property as soon as possible, either as a whole or in parts.
Peter Mitchell, head of property at Watford Borough Council, said: “We will be looking to re-let as soon as possible to open up Charter Place from the High Street and create a better shopping environment.”
It is believed there will be no structural changes to the shopping centre until after Easter 2012, but the council has planned a series of improvements to replace signs, and improve lighting and drainage.
Mark Poyner, of Brasier Freeth, added: "The purchase of the Woolworths building demonstrates the continuing commitment by the council to rejuvenate Watford town centre by taking a proactive approach to managing and extending their property portfolio whilst investing for the future benefit of shoppers and the local community.”
In March, the council revealed it was continuing to explore plans to redevelop Charter Place and had spoken to more than 20 companies. It is hoped the new designs will incorporate a cinema.
Previously, in January 2008, the council's five-year partnership with Capital Shopping Centres (CSC) ended, after refusing to allow the Charter Place redevelopment to become an extension of The Harlequin shopping centre, which is operated by CSC.
Comments(17)
Rob Ridley
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9:07pm Wed 3 Jun 09
HertsPeter
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9:21pm Wed 3 Jun 09
Arthur
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9:26pm Wed 3 Jun 09
How come she hasn't honoured the said manifesto pledge which was to reduce Watford's council tax to the county average (we pay 40% more than everyone else in Hertfordshire)?
How come having flogged off all our council houses and much more besides suddenly WBC is in the speculative commercial property business?
This premises connection with Charter Place in tenuous to say the least (It's got a couple of entrances, one per floor, in the furthest corner well away from the pedestrian hub.
The purchase price is not commercially sensitive information it is available to anyone willing to pay the Land Registry the princely sum of £14 - now there's a cheap scoop for the WO
Andrew1963
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9:27pm Wed 3 Jun 09
Alanr
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9:38pm Wed 3 Jun 09
reality-bites
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10:20pm Wed 3 Jun 09
Perhaps they want another nightclub, to entertain even more mess-noise- crime making out of towners at our expense!
Bernard Goode
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10:58pm Wed 3 Jun 09
thai rog
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6:11am Thu 4 Jun 09
thai rog
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6:11am Thu 4 Jun 09
bishopofwatford
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6:26am Thu 4 Jun 09
i seem to remember that jusy after woolies went pear shape i posted a suggestion in respect of woolies site / the market and a central bus terminus
well it actually looks like something i have been pontificating about might actually have the potential to be feasible.!!!
shock horror alleged man of the cloth -- i think we might be onto something
for those of u who do not pay attention to my sermons --as quite likely u all have lives to lead etc
here was and still is my proposal
1) acquire woolies site - job done
2) - move the marketers into a new home theres plenty of space i walked round the market this week and counted easily over 30 empty individual pitches.
redevelop the market site into a central watford transport hub or terminus as i do not like jargon
when the harlequin centre realises that it doesnt have a usp
and slashes its rents and charges encourage those who want to to move into one level of the harlequin so gradually u have branded shops on one level and far nicer individual traders on the other.
when the job is completed ie all market traders rehoused in actually affordable harlequin berths
finally as wbc own the site they can either sell it or reassign it?
my suggestion for this is an animal santuary for maltreated creature from all over my see
i could name some now and not all of of animal origin!!!
stil we are bordering onto religion there
and that would not be euro or county electorally advisable
not yet...
still i off to replumb the font with a cnoice of draught lucosade or watford tap water.
keep the faith
Garston Tony
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8:34am Thu 4 Jun 09
I agree that as tax payers we have a right to know how much the council has spent on this property. Nothing the council spends money on should be a secret from us who ultimately are paying for it. I don't mind if its part of a bigger scheme to redevelop that area as it needs something doing to it but why the secrecy?
Mike Watford
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12:03pm Thu 4 Jun 09
Watford_Paddy
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1:42pm Thu 4 Jun 09
I think it would be great if there was a farmers market or a kids adventure playground so parents could drop off their kids for a couple of hours whilst they shopped.
Wilkinson
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7:08pm Thu 4 Jun 09
Watford_Paddy wrote:Years of social deprivation and a corrupt political system lead a man down such roads.
Here Here, Wilkinson has a massive chip on his shoulder... I think it would be great if there was a farmers market or a kids adventure playground so parents could drop off their kids for a couple of hours whilst they shopped.
mummy_1
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9:11pm Thu 4 Jun 09
Some astute business person or corperation will come along and buy it for a fraction of the (unknown)price the council paid for it and we the tax-payer will foot the bill!
mummy_1
says...
9:11pm Thu 4 Jun 09
Some astute business person or corperation will come along and buy it for a fraction of the (unknown)price the council paid for it and we the tax-payer will foot the bill!
Nascot says...
8:50pm Wed 3 Jun 09