Regeneration proposals for two landmark buildings
Posted on Friday 22nd December 2017
Newport City Council's cabinet has approved a £12 million loan towards the redevelopment of a prominent eyesore building into offices and a hotel.
Garrison Barclay Estates, the company behind the scheme for the former Royal Mail sorting office, has also worked with the council to acquire Chartist Tower and the surrounding retail units, including the former BhS department store.
It has been granted a new lease of the buildings by the council for redevelopment purposes.
The company is already working with the council on a number of options to regenerate the property which fronts on to Commercial Street to help deliver continued growth in the city centre.
Councillor Debbie Wilcox, Leader of Newport City Council, said: "Confidence in Newport is growing. We're getting increased interest from companies that can see the city's potential and want to do business here.
"As a council, we want to do everything we can to see the city thrive and grow as this will bring benefits to those who live here.
"That means we have to be bold and innovative to ensure those opportunities do not slip through our fingers but become a reality as soon as possible.
"We have agreed to borrow the necessary finance to make a £12 million phased loan to Garrison Barclay Estates which will be repaid with a market rate of interest. They will use this to regenerate the former sorting office into much needed high quality offices and a hotel.
"It will also enhance a building which, at the moment, is a blot on the landscape close to the main railway line from London.
"The news about Chartist Tower, the former BhS and other shops in that block is also brilliant news and I look forward to seeing GBE's proposals to regenerate this landmark property. It is more positive news for the city centre and Newport as a whole - and I'm sure there will be more to come in 2018."