Sale of Peterborough’s former TK Maxx store to be completed in weeks
The sale of Peterborough’s former TK Maxx store is expected to be completed in just weeks, it has been revealed.
Council chiefs say that solicitors have now been instructed to complete the sale of the building, which sits on the corner of Bridge Street and Bourges Boulevard.
Councillor Mohammed Farooq, deputy leader and cabinet member for growth and regeneration at Peterborough City Council, said: "Lawyers are instructed to agree the sales contract.
"We hope to conclude the sale within the next few weeks."
His comments come nearly two months after the council announced that a buyer – Bridge Street (March) Ltd, which is part of the March-based MJS Investment – had made an offer to buy the four-storey building.
The company is expected to redevelop the site as a mixed use residential-led scheme.
The building at 62 to 68 Bridge Street has previously been occupied by Woolworths as well as TK Maxx and New Look but is currently owned by Peterborough City Council, which bought it in 2020 for £4,164,346, a price that included fees.
MJS is the company behind the redevelopment of Guild House in Oundle Road into 138 apartments and is also working on the transformation of the former Whitworth Mill at Fletton Quays and and extension at 35 Thorpe Road. It is understood the company is in discussions about the redevelopment of the former Goods Shed at Fletton Quays.
How important is this site to Peterborough?
The former TK Maxx store is generally regarded as a prominent 'eyesore’ brick giant that occupies a gateway site into Peterborough’s retail heart and is just a short walk to the city’s impressive university, ARU Peterborough.
Adrian Chapman, the council’s executive director of place and economy, has previously said: “We should be proud of this site.
"At the moment it is difficult to be because the building is a slug of a building.
“I imagine it with something on there which is iconic in style and nature and is a real gateway into our city centre.”
How did the council fund the purchase of the TK Maxx building?
When the council bought the TK Maxx building it used £4 million from the £22.9 million Towns Fund budget that had been given to Peterborough under the then Conservative government’s Levelling Up initiative.
Councillors will be told that once the sale is completed the £4 million will be returned to the Towns Fund.
The council had intended for the TK Maxx building to be the home of The Vine community and cultural hub. Those plans have since been dropped and The Vine will is expected to be housed on three sites, the Central Library, Peterscourt and the Victorian Goods Shed at Fletton Quays, which has just been put back up for sale by the council.