Selfridges Toyo Ito Glasgow store taken off life support
February 25 2013
Selfridges had been holding onto the land and had hoped to turn the site into a £3m car park for the ‘medium term’, but these hopes were dashed when Glasgow City Council refused to grant approval.
According to the Sunday Herald Selfridges will now cut their losses and run by selling the plot for just £5m - well below the £15m it stumped up for the land back in 2007 just before the financial crisis struck.
Frogmore are said to be eyeing up a mixed use scheme comprising flats, a four-star hotel and shopping units on the rundown three-acre block – if the deal is completed as expected over the next few weeks.
3 Comments
#1 Posted by wonky on 25 Feb 2013 at 11:59 AM
This is fantastic news. Its about time GCC had the cajones to stand up to Selfridges and force their hand. I only hope the Frogmore development happens and that it is one of, at the very least, decent quality, on such a key site. This project, if done well, has the potential to transform this whole area into one of the best in the city.
#2 Posted by Neil C on 25 Feb 2013 at 15:38 PM
If Selfridges are losing £10 million on the resale, wouldn't it have made more sense for them to just build the sodding department store? £10 million seems a reasonable construction budget, and then they could start turning over income on a daily basis. Even if the store made a loss, they'd be able to sell it as a ready-to-go department store, instead of losing the £10 million anyway and ending up with nothing to show for it.
#3 Posted by Eric on 25 Feb 2013 at 16:08 PM
I agree wonky.If its done right! I think that company own several buildings around wilson st etc in that general area.I also remember Glasgow cross stn when it was open and the area was busy.I really hope in future they will open up the hub stn at cross.it would help sustain regeneration in several areas surrounding it.like calton .Bridgegate .saltmarket Galowgate and collegelands as well as Merchantcity and trongate.I love what they have done with the panopticon on trongate .
Post your comments
Read next: Edinburgh development hub proposal aired
Back to February 2013
Like us on Facebook
Become a fan and share
News Archive
Search News
Features & Reports
For more information from the industry visit our Features & Reports section.