The Council has published on its website for the first time this week original historic reports, meeting minutes and approval forms that it has on file that led to the decision to purchase both The Square Shopping Centre and the House of Fraser store in 2016.
In late 2016, the Council purchased The Square Shopping Centre (known at the time as The Mall) for a total of £94,100,000. This included the purchase price of £86,000,000 plus refurbishment costs of £7,000,000, and purchases fees of £1,100,000.
Also in late 2016, the Council purchased the former House of Fraser store for a further £18,753,576. This included the purchase price of £18,462,854 plus £290,723 in purchase fees.
Additionally, for completeness, the Council is publishing all the documents relating to the investigation into The Square purchase by the special working group of the Performance and Finance Scrutiny Committee in 2020.
Documents released today include:
- The Square Shopping Centre 2016
- Council minutes
- Executive function urgent action form
- Exempt report for property acquisitions
- House of Fraser Purchase 2016
- Council minutes
- Executive function urgent action form
- Urgent action report
- Performance and Finance Scrutiny Committee 2020
- Report of Task & Finish Group on the Council’s Property Transactions
- Action plan to deliver recommendations
- Avison Young report
- Council minutes
Further information can be found by visiting the purchase of The Square and House of Fraser store webpage.