Charter Place redevelopment edges closer (From Watford Observer)
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Watford Borough Council agrees 999 year lease on Charter Place with Capital Shopping Centres
10:05pm Monday 8th October 2012 in News
The redevelopment of the Charter Place shopping centre edged a bit closer tonight as a legal deal was struck between Watford Borough Council and the owners of the Harlequin.
Ruling Liberal Democrat politicians voted to grant Capital Shopping Centres a 999 year lease on the centre in High Street at a meeting of the cabinet.
Watford Borough Council is also set to take control of four town centre car parks such as the Gade and Palace, which were handed over to Capital as part of the original Harlequin deal in the 1990s.
The agreement will help pave the way for the long-awaited rebuild of the ageing centre.
Over the last decade a number of attempts to rejuvenate Charter Place have fallen by the wayside with three different developers taking up the struggling project over the last three years.
However despite tonight's agreement details of what the redevelopment will look like are yet to emerge.
Previous proposals for Charter Place have included plans for a cinema and issues such as where the market will fit into the scheme remain unanswered.
The deal agreed tonight will see the council paid an annual income of £1.8m from Capital for Charter Place.
On top of this the borough will receive a seven per cent slice of any profits made from the shopping centre.
As part of the deal Capital agreed to hand back control of the four town centre car parks - Gade, Palace, Sutton and Church - back to the council.
Under the current arrangement Capital rents the car parks for £868,000 a year, plus 50 per cent of the profits it makes from them.
The new deal means the council will be able to set the fees for the car parks and also invest in their run-down buildings.
Elected Mayor Dorothy Thornhill said the new arrangement would allow the council to use the car parks as a tool to attract people to the town.
She said: "We had some concern that the car parks were not their (Capital's) priority. It was about getting shoppers in and out.
"Our priority is the whole town. This allows us a degree of flexibility and that has got to be a good thing."
Comments(14)
drunkenduck
says...
11:13pm Mon 8 Oct 12
The owners of the Harlequin, Capital Shopping Centres wanted to redevelopment of the Charter Place for many years but the council kept saying No! So why the change of heart. Or surly Capital Shopping Centres isn't thinking they'll receive free money like the other developers did.
Or though Charter Place was a good place to shop (perhaps still is) but it was better until Dorothy Thornhill tried her way and try to kick out all the market traders which backed fired on her. Since then the place has gone down hill.
Reg Edit
says...
8:22am Tue 9 Oct 12
clarkie750
says...
8:22am Tue 9 Oct 12
Drunkenduck is completely wrong. The original deal Capital Shopping Centres wanted was hopeless for the council. They only came back on board after it's management changed and offered the council a really good deal. Drunkenduck should be pleased with what has been achieved.
Mike Watford
says...
10:30am Tue 9 Oct 12
Also as Capital Shopping Centres (The Harlequin) are doing the redevelopment of Charter Place, it will almost certainly happen.
Mike Watford
says...
10:46am Tue 9 Oct 12
Andrew1963 wrote:As freeholder, the council would have to improve and maintain the car parks anyway, wouldn't they?
What is the practical difference between selling the freehold and selling a 999 year lease? Having control of the 4 satelitte car parks might be a double edged sword. When it costs £4 million to put a bridge over the pond and repave the Parade.How much will it cost to improve and maintain four steel and concrete 40+ year old multi-storey car parks?
By getting the lease back, presumably it means there is now control over the car parking charges (ie making them lower at certain times) to benefit all the town centre, rather than just the shopping centre
Mike Watford
says...
10:46am Tue 9 Oct 12
Andrew1963 wrote:As freeholder, the council would have to improve and maintain the car parks anyway, wouldn't they?
What is the practical difference between selling the freehold and selling a 999 year lease? Having control of the 4 satelitte car parks might be a double edged sword. When it costs £4 million to put a bridge over the pond and repave the Parade.How much will it cost to improve and maintain four steel and concrete 40+ year old multi-storey car parks?
By getting the lease back, presumably it means there is now control over the car parking charges (ie making them lower at certain times) to benefit all the town centre, rather than just the shopping centre
TRT
says...
10:54am Tue 9 Oct 12
Nascot
says...
11:37am Tue 9 Oct 12
Reg Edit wrote:Didn't know a fishmonger was planning to move in
Can anyone smell fish?
LSC
says...
11:45am Tue 9 Oct 12
They can pay all that and it was still economically viable? Just 50% of the parking charges less nearly a million and they STILL made a profit?
Boy, are we being ripped off on parking.
garston tony
says...
12:25pm Tue 9 Oct 12
How many spaces in these car parks? Say there's a thousand in each and say 80% of them are in use all day long on a 10 hour day. Thats 8000 hours of parking paid for at say an average of £1 per hour over 363 days so you're looking at nearly £3 million over the year.
I dare say the £868k is deducted as a cost so take that off and say £250k for other costs and youre still looking at near enough £1million even after giving the council 50% of what was left over. I would imagine this is a conservative estimate too,especially when you figure that as you approach xmas you're probably looking at 100% occupancy for most of the day.
Nice little earner!
Watfordengineer
says...
1:03pm Tue 9 Oct 12
Andrew1963
says...
7:34pm Tue 9 Oct 12
Mike Watford wrote:Watford council has in effect sold Charter Place to Capital Shopping Centres for £1.8 million a year rent +7% of rental revenue. But this excludes Palace Car park (which is integrated into Charter Place/Harlequin). what happens if the council decides on a different tariff to Kings and Queens which are operated by CSC? Does not seem practical to me if people block up the ring road queuing for spaces in the cheaper car park. Sutton and Church are primarily shopper destination car parks. Gade is a bit different as it is nearer the Parade. Of course the council needs to hope the car park revenue with their tariffs is greater than the £856,000 + 50% of profit it already gets from CSC. At a time when the council is selling off tasks - presumably they will want to out source the management of these car parks to a commercial operator who specialises in managing car parks and yield management of revenue. In the next 20 years perhaps Church, Sutton and Gade could be redeveloped for housing, with out of town centre park and ride.
Andrew1963 wrote: What is the practical difference between selling the freehold and selling a 999 year lease? Having control of the 4 satelitte car parks might be a double edged sword. When it costs £4 million to put a bridge over the pond and repave the Parade.How much will it cost to improve and maintain four steel and concrete 40+ year old multi-storey car parks?As freeholder, the council would have to improve and maintain the car parks anyway, wouldn't they? By getting the lease back, presumably it means there is now control over the car parking charges (ie making them lower at certain times) to benefit all the town centre, rather than just the shopping centre
clarkie750
says...
11:47pm Tue 9 Oct 12
Andrew1963 says...
11:09pm Mon 8 Oct 12