‘Department store of experiences’ lined up for Lewis’s
Augur Group has lodged plans with Liverpool City Council to transform the grade two-listed landmark into a mixed-use leisure, retail, and commercial destination.
The Colman Architects-designed scheme intends to deliver a “department store of experiences” within the former Lewis’s department store on the corner of Ranelagh Street and Renshaw Street, according to a design and access statement.
Proposals focus on the vacant areas within the property. The developer hopes to retain the original essence of the Lewis’s store while adapting to emerging changes in the work and leisure sectors.
Augur is seeking flexible consent for the 68,000 sq ft of empty space, with potential uses ranging from a brewery and restaurant to escape rooms and mini golf.
The unnamed tenant also wishes to convert the empty sixth-floor office space into a 6,300 sq ft restaurant.
The nine-storey building is currently occupied by the 126-bedroom Adagio Aparthotel and a 25,000 sq ft PureGym. The remaining swathes have remained unoccupied since Lewis’s closure in 2007.
The original Lewis’s store was first opened at the same city centre location in 1856 and expanded through the decades. The current building was constructed around 1947 after most of the original store was destroyed in The Blitz.
Augur acquired the 400,000 sq ft landmark in 2017.
Before the site changed hands, developers Merepark and Ballymore had advanced plans for a scheme called Central Village on the land between Lewis’s and Central Station with restaurant operators including Nando’s signed up.
However, the project suffered numerous delays due to the 2008 crash and never advanced.
Quod is the scheme’s planning consultant. The project team also includes Futureserv and Adapt Heritage.
Want to learn more about the plans? Search for application numbers 23F/1997 and 23L/2086 on Liverpool City Council’s planning portal.
Informative article. Well written
By Pat
Seems a better proposal than conversion into some boring private offices – the completely wasteful idea proposed for Manchester’s Kendals building.
By Anonymous
Keep the stag & hens do’s coming I guess
By Dave
no mention about “The statue”
By I Hutchings
Leisurepool
By Anonymous
Liverpool is a handsome looking city
By Anonymous
Boring private offices?…Liverpool is absolutely desperate for just a few of those…I suppose we need the jobs to fill them though. Still, better than leaving it empty.
By Anonymous
Dave, Liverpool is the number one town for attracting hens and stags, it’s a huge economic boost, Liverpool’s nightlife is legendary
By Cal
@cal and what has this “legendry” nightlife done improve living standards in the city? Streets are filthiest they have ever been, noise pollution all over the city centre too with every bar trying to be the loudest.
By Anonymous
@cal It might be legendary, but it generally creates low paying jobs, whereas the City is in desperate need of new commercial buildings to support higher paying/skill employment
By Anonymous
Wrong again Cal, you’re confusing it with Newcastle the very epicentre of drunken nightlife. This proposal will hopefully lift its gaze a little higher than such nonsense.
By Anonymous
Nightlife was the reason people moved into city centre in 1990s when before nobody else wanted to and without that none of the money people made from building apartments since would have happened.
By Ted Smith
It already has consent/previous approval for a
Mixed use leisure and retail scheme..
By Anonymous
“Calling all manchildren”
By Anonymous
Hamburg, another port city, does very well from its nightlife which is pretty raucous, the difference is it also has a lot of well paid jobs, and that’s what Liverpool needs too so it is less reliant on tourism including the hen parties.
By Anonymous
Great …but the city needs high quality jobs ……the local authorities need to make quality jobs the priority.
By George
Yes and now we need to move on like any grown up city does
By Anonymous
You can definitely have incredible nightlife AND offices. You don’t have to look far for evidence…
By Anonymous
Lewis’s didn’t close in 2007, it closed in 2010. I worked there from 2008-2010
By Anonymous
Hi Anonymous,
Thank you for your comment! Ah – this information came from planning documents, which state that Lewis’s closed in 2007. But I have just found out that it went into liquidation that year and was bought by Vergo Retail, who continued to trade under the same name. – S
By Sophie Rennie
It’s bringing the building back into use in challenging times so bring it on. I’d sooner this happened than it remaining empty.
By Anonymous
Sounds good 👍 Better than this beautiful remaining empty !
By Mrs Barker