Blackpool Council is seeking new investors to progress its £300m Blackpool Central scheme after developer Nikal filed for administration.
The council’s executive committee has agreed to appoint new commercial marketing agents to promote the site to international leisure investors.
The first stage of the Blackpool Central development completed earlier this year, with the opening of a 1,306-space multi-storey car park.
The appointment of administrators to Nikal came after Ballast Nedam, the contractor that built a multi-storey car park at the site, won a £4.6m claim against the developer that it could not pay.
Nikal had planned to build three indoor entertainment centres, a hotel and restaurants on the 15-acre site.
Blackpool Council leader Lynn Williams said: “Blackpool Central sits right at the heart of our plans to make Blackpool better for everybody. We’re committed to attracting a world-class leisure development that creates jobs for our local people, extends our tourism season to be all year round and supports our local economy to grow.
“In the past five years at Blackpool Central, we’ve made more progress on this site than the 50 years before it since the Blackpool Central train station closed in the 1960s, largely paid for by the private sector without risking council taxpayers’ money.”
She added: “The road to regeneration isn’t always smooth but we will not stand still. We will continue our plans to demolish the courts and the police station early in the new year in order to create a shovel-ready site for a new leisure attraction.
“We have very high standards for the type of attraction which this site needs and any future scheme will have to match those ambitions. To deliver on that we need serious investors and we will be heavily marketing this opportunity to get that international calibre of attraction.”
Agents will be appointed to help find a new investor for the scheme in the new year.
Image from Blackpool Council
Send feedback to Samantha McClary
Follow Estates Gazette
