Anchors close to signing in Baron’s Quay
Asda and Odeon are expected to finalise legal negotiations shortly with Cheshire West & Chester Council to occupy pivotal sites at the mixed-use development in Northwich town centre.
Both would be new names to the mid-Cheshire town. Asda would occupy a 73,000 sq ft store and Odeon a five-screen digital cinema. Talks are also ongoing with retailers new to the town over prelets although these are not expected to conclude before the Asda and Odeon deals.
Northwich currently has a Sainsbury's and a Tesco in the town centre. A Waitrose store is under construction, due to open before Christmas.
CWAC declined to comment on the speculation surrounding the anchor stores.
Planning permission was granted in March for the scheme, which the council hopes to complete in 2016.
The local authority plans to develop the scheme itself without a development partner. Instead, a team of architects, surveyors and engineers has drawn up the plans with CWAC as the client.
The team includes building consultants Rider Levett Bucknall, architects Broadway Malyan, agents Lambert Smith Hampton and Tushingham Moore, project manager Fraser Blair Associates and engineer Curtins Consulting.
The proposed scheme would contain 429,600 sq ft of new leisure and retail-led space, including a food store of 73,000 sq ft gross area and 50,000 sq ft net trading, 163,000 sq ft of non-food retail, 23,000 sq ft cinema, 70-bed hotel, alongside 45 apartments, petrol filling station, car park, and highways improvements.
