Weather
Key Southampton development Watermark WestQuay postponed (From This is Hampshire)
When news happens, text SDE and your photos or videos to 80360. Or contact us by email and phone.
|
|
|
|
Key Southampton development Watermark WestQuay postponed
4:30pm Tuesday 10th February 2009
IT PROMISED restaurants, major new shops, a hotel and a luxury cinema.
But today £100m plans for an extension to Southampton’s WestQuay shopping centre lie in tatters, the latest victim of the recession.
In a massive blow to a city council already reeling from a succession of major development collapses, bosses of the property giant behind plans for Watermark WestQuay have revealed work is on hold until the economy picks up.The statement that “main works on site are unlikely to commence before an improvement in economic conditions” throws the future of the entire city centre into disarray.
What the scheme entailed - click here
WestQuay shopping centre owner Hammerson said it was not possible to predict when conditions would be right for the flagship project again.
The difficulties echo those encountered by a rival £500m development in Portsmouth called the Northern Quarter, which has also been put on hold indefinitely.
Hammerson has problems of its own and yesterday announced plans to raise nearly £600m from investors in a bid to tackle a £3bn debt mountain. The company has also seen profits of £110m in 2007 crumble into massive £1.6bn losses for 2008.
Widely viewed as the most recession-proof of the proposals for Southampton’s skyline, Watermark today joins an ever-lengthening list of problem projects.
Already plans for the Arts Quarter in the city centre have been hit by the collapse of developer City Lofts, while Wilson Bowden pulled the plug on building at Admiral’s Quay in Ocean Village and put the site up for sale.Work on flats at Royal Crescent by developer Inner Circle has also been halted by the economic slowdown, as have MDL Marina’s plans for a four-star hotel in Ocean Village.
At the end of January this year, a scheme for 550 homes on the former Meridian TV site in Northam hit the buffers when developer Oakdene fell into administration.
The project WILL go ahead - click here
David Atkins, managing director of Hammerson UK was adamant Watermark was not dead and said they would continue with the planning and designing work.
“I can’t believe anyone is surprised by this,” he said. “This environment is worse than we thought it would be and we are in the thick of it. Until we see some changes in the retail environment we cannot commit.
“Development is a complex process that takes many years to come about.
We are still at the planning stage. The next one is to ensure that we have enough retail tenants and anchor tenants interested and we have ongoing discussions with them so we were not in a position to push the button on this scheme anyway. If we don’t get the retail interest then we wouldn’t go ahead anyway.”
More News stories
- Police hunt for fans after cup match violence
- Homes sealed off after bomb found
- John Lewis staff to get huge bonus
- Woman injured in road accident
- City cab drivers want to ut up fares to pay for cameras
- Death crash driver to be sentenced
- TV pair have designs on city's Celebrity Sunwalk
- Man had 360,000 indecent images of children
- The top dogs!
- Australian voyage is a first for QM2
Your Say YourHampshire
owen_thesaints, The forgotten side of the City says...
12:02pm Tue 10 Feb 09
Even if this had been built can anyone realistically see any need for more retail outlets in Southampton?
lowe and behold, southampton says...
12:05pm Tue 10 Feb 09
Condor Man wrote:It caused me pain every day driveing past Meridien at the thought of Dineage working there!
it pains me to drive past Meridien to see what's left of the building the brought us Runaround, How, Out of Town, Wurzel Gummidge.....
thedeerhunter270, Highfield says...
12:22pm Tue 10 Feb 09
The blame for this is equally shared by the council and the developers - it was fairly obvious to be that Southampton was becoming too reliant on retail and not manufacturing.
That aside - look at the size of Hammerson's dept, £3bn! Geez - sorry David Atkins, you're in denial.
Ian24, Sholing says...
12:37pm Tue 10 Feb 09
goard, Southampton says...
1:05pm Tue 10 Feb 09
goard
Bartonian, Chandler's Ford says...
1:09pm Tue 10 Feb 09
goard wrote:How about corporate interests for starters. Even the welcome sign for Southampton has a corporate logo underneath it!
Has anyone had the thought 'who's running Soton?' - let the big guys fight it out - we will get on and lead our lives normally - no power struggle here. goard
Bartonian, Chandler's Ford says...
1:10pm Tue 10 Feb 09
goard wrote:If you look for a book called "The corporate takeover of Britain", you will find a chapter called the "Smashing of Southampton." It makes good, informative reading on what is going on.
Has anyone had the thought 'who's running Soton?' - let the big guys fight it out - we will get on and lead our lives normally - no power struggle here. goard
mr.southampton, Southampton says...
1:10pm Tue 10 Feb 09
owen_thesaints wrote:I'd also like to know what the average wage at West Quay and Ikea is compared to the average wage at Fords.
Only the other evening Cllr Royston Smith when being interviewed on BBC Radio Solent about the forthcoming loss of jobs at Ford Swaythling remarked that it wasn't all bad in Southampton, IKEA was creating jobs and the next phase of the West Quay development had been given the go ahead. What now Councillor? Even if this had been built can anyone realistically see any need for more retail outlets in Southampton?
Someone should have known that putting Southamptons collective eggs in the baskets of retail and hospitality would mean serious problems in the event of a downturn.
Even Westquay, the heart of city centre retail is beginning to be affected by empty units, even in their mid-level which I'm assuming by looking at the design of the centre and it's footfall, is it's prime location.
damien thorn, west end says...
1:35pm Tue 10 Feb 09
wilsamsaints, southampton says...
2:35pm Tue 10 Feb 09
lowe and behold wrote:working?
Condor Man wrote: it pains me to drive past Meridien to see what's left of the building the brought us Runaround, How, Out of Town, Wurzel Gummidge.....It caused me pain every day driveing past Meridien at the thought of Dineage working there!
wilsamsaints, southampton says...
2:36pm Tue 10 Feb 09
owen_thesaints, The forgotten side of the City says...
2:45pm Tue 10 Feb 09
wilsamsaints wrote:I hope this is being rethought as we speak, with more of an emphasis on public access to the waterfront and proper housing, not more flats.
makes you wonder if the woolston development will ever get done
wilsamsaints, southampton says...
4:54pm Tue 10 Feb 09
owen_thesaints wrote:me too there is no way the roads will cope its bad enough now from 7 till 9 a nice area near the water for families to enjoy at leisure is a better idea but the council wouldnt get their payments from the developers if they went for that option as with ikea the traffic seems to be at the bottom of their worries
wilsamsaints wrote: makes you wonder if the woolston development will ever get doneI hope this is being rethought as we speak, with more of an emphasis on public access to the waterfront and proper housing, not more flats.
Chris1991, Marchwood says...
7:59pm Tue 10 Feb 09
Wouldn't it be a good idea to build it now in time for the turn around? Lets face it, its going to take several years of building so by the time it is ready, recovery should be due.
Semms logical to me.
Condor Man, Southampton says...
11:45pm Tue 10 Feb 09
Chris1991 wrote:How right you are. Now is the time to build, the only snag is that in this climate getting the money to do anything is the problem. It certainly would be easy to recruit the staff to build it.
This is a short sighted move. The recession will come to an end and interest rastes will rise.
Wouldn't it be a good idea to build it now in time for the turn around? Lets face it, its going to take several years of building so by the time it is ready, recovery should be due.
Semms logical to me.
Southampton needs to assess what it actually needs, rather than what it would like. It would seem to me that a luxury hotel to capture the cruise market would be preferential over a luxury cinema or more shops.
Ian24, Sholing says...
8:40am Wed 11 Feb 09
Mayflower Plazza,Central Station, John Lewis,Woolston,Ocean Village Hotel and of course this one.
The council spent too long playing games with consultant mates bleeding each project dry designing unbuildable dreams waiting for the boom to bust.
They thought it would never come but it has city centre flats wont return even when lending does and the council will give all their land away in the end at a huge cost to the tax payer.
Can we have an article on how much tax payers cash has been wased on the above messes. Can the Echo find out?
goard, Southampton says...
2:49pm Wed 11 Feb 09
goard, Southampton says...
2:53pm Wed 11 Feb 09
goard
Your sayYour Hampshire
Add your comment
Register for a FREE This is Hampshire account and you can have your say on today's news and sport by adding comments on articles we publish. The best comments may even get published in the paper.
Please register now or sign in below to continue.
Watermark WestQuay
£100m Watermark WestQuay project put on hold indefinitely
|
|
Local Information
Enter your postcode, town or place name
Condor Man, Southampton says...
11:51am Tue 10 Feb 09