Agenda item

The Director of Regeneration will be in attendance at the meeting to provide an update on Captain Cook Square Shopping Centre.

RECOMMENDATION: that the Panel determines whether any further information is required.

The Director of Regeneration provided an update on the Captain Cook Square Shopping Centre regeneration.

The Council had purchased the Captain Cook Centre some time ago and had initially been focussing on the area around the square near to the car park.  Due to some retailers leaving and proactive steps that had been taken with others, the Council now had vacant possession on quite a few units.  60,000 square feet of space had been let to Lane 7 and an E-Sports business would be moving into a unit previously occupied by Peacocks.  Both units required some work to make them suitable for leisure use and the frontages would be updated.   It was anticipated that both operators would be ready to open by late spring/early summer 2022. 

It was highlighted that Lane 7 already had a presence elsewhere in the town centre and at the present time the Council was not aware of any plan to close that establishment, although that would be a decision for the operators.

There were other potential occupiers who were interested in the units and the Council was looking at a reasonable range of different types of leisure use.  The pipeline of potential occupiers was healthy and the Council was keen to pursue certain types of business and quality operators, rather than letting units to anyone expressing an interest.  At this stage, further details of the other potential operators was commercially sensitive information. 

In respect of other tenants in the Captain Cook Centre, particularly retailers, the Council had made them aware that there were other options to accommodate them if necessary.  The Council now had a bigger portfolio of space available if existing tenants felt their business did not fit well with the increased leisure use within the Square and wished to relocate elsewhere in the town centre.

The Council had a plan to ensure that the upper floors of the units in the Captain Cook Square were brought into use and not used solely for storage as was generally the case presently.  The lettings agreed to date involved usage of the upper floors which would necessitate some changes to the outside of the buildings. The Council was prepared to fund some alterations to frontages, however, they would be relatively cosmetic changes unless the occupiers wanted something different. 

Work would also be undertaken to improve the frontage of the bus station   and it was confirmed that there was no current plan to move the bus station to a different location.  

Some of the potential occupiers were also looking at providing an outdoor terrace.  The curtilage of the units included the space up to where the canopy ended.   That outdoor space could be used for outdoor eating or potentially other activities.  It was the intention that the central area in the square would provide something that would inevitably be seasonal.   It could be used as an events space at times, or for extending the eating and drinking potential of different venues to fit their plans.  The scale to which venues could use the space would increase and decrease in line with other things that were planned, probably on a seasonal basis.

One consideration for using the central square for events would be whether it could be covered to allow for events in any weather.  Whilst it would be difficult and very expensive to install a permanent structure, ideas a temporary structure would be explored. 

With regard to the very recent purchase of the Cleveland Centre, it was clarified that this included the shopping centre, car park, former Barclaycard unit and Barclays Bank unit on Corporation Road.  The Sports Direct Unit and Centre North East building were not included.  The hotel unit formed part of the freehold of the property and was currently under an active lease to the hotel owners.  The Council provided a principal loan of approximately £7 million for the hotel in 2016/2017, which was match funded by private investment.    The hotel generated a revenue return for the Council of approximately £250,000 per annum.  Once the loan expired, the Council could be paid out, or potentially choose to maintain that long term interest if the income revenue was worthwhile.

With regard to the Cleveland Centre, the Council had taken ownership with the intention of operating it as it was for now.  Areas such as the car park could be re-purposed as it was larger than was needed for centre shoppers.  Potentially the size and designation of spaces could be altered or offered to businesses that wished to buy car parking space in the town centre.  However, there were no firm plans at the current time to make any fundamental changes.  A request that the scale model of the Endeavour ship was reinstated was noted. 

Panel Members congratulated all those involved in the purchase of the Cleveland Centre and the actions taken to secure the town centre.

AGREED that the information provided was received and noted.