Basildon Borough Council has bought the 143,000 sq ft Westgate Park shopping centre in the town centre for a price understood to be in the region of £21.5m.
The purchase was signed off at a cabinet meeting late last week.
Leader of the council Gavin Callaghan said: “We are 100% committed to regenerating Basildon town centre and this acquisition is vital for land assembly across the west of the town.
“We are not messing about,” he added. “We have hit the ground running.”
The council has been planning a major redevelopment of the town centre for many years and in 2020 put forward a number of plans for the Westgate site, including turning it into a 2,000-5,000-seat events centre.
In its strategy document, the council said Westgate’s location, away from the commercial heart of the town centre, made it a more secondary location for retail in the future.
“There is an opportunity to open the site up for more cultural uses with additional residential,” says the report.
According to Radius data, Westgate was last sold in 2017, with Kuwati investor Dimah Capital paying Harbert Management £32.5m for the property.
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