Yahoo News Plymouth's massive House of Fraser on sale at knock-down £3m after deal 'falls through'
Plymouth’s massive House of Fraser building is on sale for a knock-down £3m after a deal to buy it appears to have fallen through. In August 2022 it was reported that a deal to purchase the six-storey block, which also has a basement, for more than £4m was “imminent”.
But there was no further news of a purchase and now the pile is back on the market and could be “reconfigured” with new floors added on top. Property consultancy Allsop said it has been instructed to sell the department store building’s lease for “in the region” of £3m.
The 183,689sa ft building originally went on the market in May 2022, with offers sought “in excess of £4m”. It soon attracted interest and three months later commercial agents told PlymouthLive that “a deal has been agreed”, but the contract appears to never have been signed.
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The building and the four small retail units next to it on New George Street, totalling 14,398sq ft, are now on sale again. Three of the units are empty and one is occupied by Menkind.
The main department store is let to SDI (Propco 46) Ltd, trading as House of Fraser, by way of a licence at a peppercorn rent. The licence may be terminated on six months notice by either party.
Allsop is advertising an “opportunity to reconfigure a landmark building” and “repurpose the site”. A sale brochure said: “There is exceptional appetite from both investors and the Plymouth (City) Council to rejuvenate plympton >Plymouth city centre and the subject property will play a pivotal part in increasing the city centre’s offering.
“There is a clear opportunity for a purchaser to re-purpose the site. Plymouth is currently undergoing one of the most major city revamps for generations with projects in the pipeline worth £1bn over the next 10-15 years.
“The local council is heavily investing in a series of regeneration schemes designed to bring more people into the city centre, attract new jobs and build more homes, including affordable and social housing.”
The brochure added that buildings fronting Old Town Street and Royal Parade to the east of Armada Way, should be refurbished sensitively to update and expand the retail spaces and attract “new complementary uses” to the upper floors, under council policy. It said: “Expansion of existing spaces will be enabled by internal reconfiguration, extension of the buildings to the rear and/or the sensitive inclusion of additional floors.”
It said development should provide the possibility of adding storeys, up to a maximum building height of eight floors. The overall property is held on two separate leasehold titles with the House of Fraser building having a term of 125 years from January 1992, meaning it still has 93 years unexpired. The lease for the four other units is for a term of 999 years from December 2007, so there are 983 years unexpired.
The freeholder is Plymouth City Council, which “would be prepared to discuss a headlease extension” on the House of Fraser part of the building with a purchaser. In 2016 British Land paid £67m for the huge block of city centre shops which extends from Old Town Street and down to Armada Way and includes the Debenhams and House of Fraser department stores.
In 2021 it put the Debenhams building on the market, with an asking price of at least £3.5m, after the chain shut its entire portfolio of more than 90 UK stores, with about 12,000 job losses. Essex-based developer BuildVantage Ltd has since drawn up plans to place a two-storey extension on top and demolish and rebuild part of the rear of the building to provide light for flats created in the former sales area of the upper floors.
In March this year the huge city centre building that houses Tesco Express and TK Maxx had nearly £2m slashed from its asking price after failing to sell. The building, which fronts onto New George Street, Royal Parade and Bedford Way, went on the market in June 2022 for £6.31m but was re-advertised at a knock-down price of £4.5m.
The Plymouth House of Fraser store was scheduled for closure in 2018 but saved when billionaire Sports Direct mogul Mike Ashley bought the chain out of administration and renamed it Frasers Group. The company is best known for trading under the Sports Direct brand and also owns Jack Wills, GAME, Flannels, USC, Lillywhites and Evans Cycles.
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