January 19th 2024
British retail entrepreneur considers bid for Sheffield’s Meadowhall
The shopping mall located in South Yorkshire is on the market for £750m and Fraser’s Group have become the latest company to express interest.
Mike Ashely, owner of the Frasers Group, is said to be ‘one of a handful of parties’ to have registered interest in buying Meadowhall, The Times reported.
The mega-mall, which is believed to have halved in value over the last 10 years, was put up for sale last year by its owners, British Land and Norges Bank, with a reported asking price of £750m.
News of the shopping mall being bought comes as the business prepares to open a Frasers department store and a Sports Direct in the former Debenhams unit at the end of The Avenue. In addition, Fraser’s Group already manages a Flannels and a GAME store at the centre, which has over 200 shops and 24m annual visitors.
Against this backdrop, Fraser’s group would arguably be the best organisation to sell to as they already have a history within the trade. In 2023 the company purchased The Mall in Luton for £58m and the Overgate Centre in Dundee for £30m. Following this, they also bought Junction 32, an outlet shopping centre near Castleford, West Yorkshire, for £50m.
In addition, development plans for the shopping mall have been put on hold until a new occupier is confirmed. In November 2021, British Land confirmed plans to use 13 acres of land for warehousing and delivery hubs as online sales continued to soar. At the time it had outline planning permission on development plots 571,000 sq ft.
However, a spokeswoman for British Land, a property company which creates, owns, and manages some of the UK’s best and most sustainable real estate, reportedly claimed that they won’t be progressing with their project until someone buys the Sheffield mall.
Image: Harrison Qi
More than £19m earmarked for Sheffield Parkwood Springs plans
Funding awarded to sustainably upgrade a Sheffield retrofit project