New fears for Shrewsbury's £150m Riverside shopping centre plans
The firm behind plans to build a new £150 million shopping centre in Shrewsbury has admitted to "underestimating" the economic downturn, a report has revealed.
Bosses at the UK Commercial Property Trust, which owns the Darwin, Pride Hill and Riverside Shopping Centres, said the main focus was to now rebuild its income at the existing centres after misjudging the "persistence" and "severity" of the recession.
But the company is still investigating whether the New Riverside shopping centre can be built.
An interim report and accounts document for UKCPT also shows that the closure of retail giant TK Maxx's town centre store has left them with a financial black hole worth £177,000 each year.
The high street chain relocated to a new out-of-town store at Meole Brace Retail Park in March after its lease in the Darwin Shopping Centre expired.
It comes after Guy Shearer, from Shearer Property Group, one of the firms behind the plans, revealed earlier this year that it was subject to 'regular review' by the UKCPT board of directors and may never come to fruition.
But Robert Boag, senior investment director for Ignis Investment Services Limited, the asset management company for UKCPT, insisted that "significant progress" had still been made on the New Riverside proposals.
The regeneration project includes the demolition of the existing Riverside centre and the construction of a new 225,000 sq ft complex featuring a full line department store, 50 new shops, 10 restaurants, offices and car parking.
Mr Boag, in the report published on August 21, said: "Although significant progress has been made on the New Riverside development in Shrewsbury, we are not alone in having underestimated the persistence of the economic downturn and the severity of its effect on the retail climate.
"This has undermined net operating income for the existing centres."
