Central Stockport site pinned for 550 homes

Amstone Ventures has acquired the 3.3-acre former Sainsbury’s site in the town centre for a £100m build-to-rent development.

Sainsbury’s closed its doors at the Warren Street site in January and has now concluded the site’s sale. Architect Leach Rhodes Walker is drawing up plans for a scheme including apartments and townhouses, with Deloitte also on the Amstone team as planning consultant.

A planning application is expected this year ahead of a hoped-for start on site early in 2022.

Stockport has forged ahead with major plans to establish the town centre as a residential hotspot in the last couple of years, working through a Mayoral Development Corporation to advance sites.

Key projects include Capital & Centric’s Weir Mill and Investar’s Royal George Village, along with a residential tower within the transport interchange development. In addition, £14.5m was secured from the Future High Streets Fund.

Amstone said that in terms of scale and amenity, the site is closely matched with the scheme the firm recently delivered at Clippers Quay in Salford for Grainger, a 600-apartment scheme completed in May 2019.

Martin Halsey, operations director at Amstone Ventures said: “Amstone has a range of build to rent developments across Greater Manchester. What these sites have in common is that they are in great locations with excellent transport links and incorporate high quality design offering city centre living to a wider demographic.

“We can see that Stockport has untapped demand for quality homes within its town centre, offering a vibrant lifestyle and everything Stockport town centre has to offer, all on the doorstep.”

Cllr David Meller, cabinet member for economy and regeneration at Stockport Council, said: “It is great to see the former Sainsbury’s site being brought back into use so quickly, which shows the confidence so many have in our town centre.

“Amstone joins the list of developers who are helping to deliver the regeneration of the town centre and this complements our ambitious plans for the town and our reputation as great place to live, work, enjoy and do business.”

Elsewhere, Amstone has agreed a forward funding deal with One Manchester to deliver 96 homes in Longsight.

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Hope there will be extra parking or can see chaos

By A W Ratcliffe

Can’t we unload the hideous Asda store whilst we’re at it.

By Dolly

Because of all these ridiculous ideas ie a gym offices and now homes most of the shops are closing down. Stockport town centre is becoming a ghost town so there wont be anything to offer people who have lived in stockport all their lives. Ive seen many changes to the centre and not all are good. Stockport is losing its identity. Everything is becoming an eyesore like redrock. Not happy at all. Try asking stockport residents for their opinions and not people from other places. This is our town.

By Anon

No to housing, needs another retailer in there. Stockport shopping/leisure is slowly decreasing.
Keep Stockport alive, keep jobs

By Lou

Can’t believe whats happing in Stockport. Born and bred here there will be no where to shop its like a ghost town at the present and getting worse we don’t all use the Internet to shop what will there be left for us to do our shopping

By Maddie

Interesting. If they can pull this off then where else in Stockport might also do similar? Scope across the river to replace the Peel Centre?

By the light of the moon

Great opportunity to open up more of the riverside. What community facilities are being put in for all these new residents – what about schools and doctors surgeries?

By Martin Cranmer

One reason Sainsbury’s failed was one entrance/exit for vehicles.I stopped using in 1988 as was ridiculous to exit.Will new scheme have same problems?

By Togg.

The plan for housing sounds good BUT I agree with others who have posted: Stockport needs some life injecting back into it. Are there plans to regenerate the shopping precinct? Without that what will there be?

By DebH

The comments of its like a ghost town. That’s exactly why housing is being built in the centre on brownfield land attracting people in to the centre. Housing has to be built there is a shortage the people of Stockport rightly don’t want it to be built on green belt so where ? I think if you can get the right mix of good quality schemes alongside leisure, office space, good bars and restaurants it can work. Town centres need to evolve or they will continue to be ghost towns.

By Steven C

How ridiculous why don’t these people ask Stockport residents what they want instead of people coming in from the outside erecting their buildings. We need shops and leisure to help bring back a vibrant Stockport bit more housing. What about the infrastructure has anyone considered that? We have a hard time getting in to see a Doctor as it is, where are the health centres/ Doctors surgeries being built? There is no information about this. Where are the Doctors and Nurses to fill the health centres and surgeries aren’t our hospitals short of Doctors and Nurses? Then there is parking where are the car parks going to be built? More housing means more cars, means more congestion. The motorway between J3,2,1 and 24 are already in chaos where rush hour is no longer rush hour it is more like rush 3 hours. ASK Stockport Residents for their views and thoughts !!!!

By Susie

Ghost town so build shops not houses? Err… the existing shops are struggling because not enough people visit. New homes = more people with the town centre literally on their doorstep. It’ll mean a change of what the town centre is/does but that’s better than it being completely dead.

By Gethin

Do people on here not think that the addition of 550 new homes in the town centre will HELP it by increasing footfall? Some cognitive dissonance going on in this comments section…. you’ll all have a chance to have your say when the planning application is submitted..

By Anonymous

Money talks, big business for developers, but they have no idea and don’t care. It is more shops that are needed. No one is going to want to come into the town centre unless they live there, most of our visitors after they have been to us, always ask where the town centre is, because they wish to go shopping while they wait for their coach to take them back to wherever they have come from.

People will stop coming to Stockport and it really will become a ghost town.

By Sharza

Shame on the council – it has destroyed Stockport with hideous buildings

By Amanda koley

Has everyone lost their minds!? Why on earth do we need MORE shops? As others have mentioned, more residents will help create the footfall and vibrancy that is needed in the town centre. That will then give which ever retailers surviving the current struggles, a fighting chance

By anon

They are providing housing on brownfield land right next to the town centre which will increase footfall for the town centre and people still aren’t happy?

By Anonymous

That many homes. What about schools, Doctors, Dentists etc. Are there enough free places locally to accomadate that many families?

By Bob

Pulling out of the GMSF means Stockport will have to develop more unsuitable sites like this for housing.

By Anonymous

If this was in mainland Europe it’d have shops on the ground floors fronting onto Warren Street, with other blocks overlooking Knightsbridge and the river, fronting onto internal greenspace with community facilities on the ground/lower floors.

And car parking… why would anyone need a car if they lived somewhere with most day to day facilities within easy walking distance, or a short (frequently running) public transport trip away? We need to get away from automatically providing for car culture whilst properly providing for better, more sustainable/healthy alternatives. If you don’t get that then, frankly, you’re a dinosaur and society is going to be better off without you as soon as possible please.

By Two-step

Shops in stockport are struggling with business rates and rents which increase every year . If the council want to Build houses what easier way to do it price retail out of a living. If you want new retail you need to offer affordable rates.

By Kay clegg

Nice one

By Dale hart

Who wants to live in a semi derelict area

By Julie

Every piece of land including green belt land in Stockport is now being taken to build flats.

By Stephen Jackson

Ridiculous, Greater Manchester is too densely populated

By LIV

Stockport needs better effective attractive retail but not on this Sainsbury’s site. The existing offering generally in town centre should be consolidated and optimised less is more. Quality not quantity. Apartments here is a great thing. But has to be a quality development not cheapo nasty apartments, so to attract professional people and or raise the quality of life for people who want to live in a location like this. The merseyway is SO out of date and not fit for purpose! So is that Asda. Dynamite them both please and replace with something more family friendly. Or grass and tree it. No one shops like they did in the 90s anymore – as if they do, they’ll go Traff Centre, nothing retail wise will compete and the council just need to deal with it!!!

By Heaton_moorster

How do people not understand that increased population = a busier, more vibrant town centre. Slowly but surely things seem like they’re going to move in the right direction (provided the luddites don’t block things like Stockroom).

By Tom

Right now there are a set of places that placing their bets on density, and there are places that aren’t. The one’s that don’t are on the road to a less prosperous less financially sustainable community.

By Rich X

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