Mars launches 585,000 sq ft Wirral retail sale 

Pyramid Shopping Centre in Birkenhead, situated at the heart of an area undergoing extensive redevelopment, is being sold by the pension fund. 

Spanning 585,000 sq ft and home to tenants including Next and River Island, the retail complex has dominated Birkenhead town centre since it was built in the late 1980s. 

The shopping centre is being sold by Knight Frank as part of Mars Pension Fund’s Galaxy portfolio. 

The other three centres in the portfolio are the 170,000 sq ft Airedale Centre in Keighley, the 618,000 sq ft Middleton grange in Hartlepool, and the 428,000 sq ft Kingdom Centre in Glenrothes. 

Together, the assets total 1.8m sq ft and generate £4.5m net income a year. 

Pyramid alone generates £1.1m a year. 

It is understood that Mars – which bought Pyramid Shopping Centre in 2011 for just shy of £70m – will entertain offers for individual assets within the portfolio, which could present an opportunity for Wirral Growth Company to take further control of the town centre it is currently redeveloping. 

A spokesperson for Wirral Council said: “We are aware of the proposed sale of the town centre site and will be looking at the implications of this for the future regeneration of Birkenhead.”

At present, work on two offices totalling 190,000 sq ft is nearing completion. Future phases include the creation of a new market hall on the town’s House of Fraser site, as well as around 650 homes, a 110-bedroom hotel, and a 300-space car park.   

Wirral Growth Company has already acquired a chunk of the Pyramids, known as Milton Pavements, that it demolished to make way for the first phase of the town centre scheme.