St Modwen is in talks to buy back a major town centre regeneration project in Liverpool after it was abandoned by current owner Tesco.
The listed regeneration specialist is under offer to buy Kirkby shopping centre for £40m – an 8% yield.
The deal comes 10 years after St Modwen sold the site to Development Securities for £35m, following which a series of schemes were drawn up and abandoned.
Tesco acquired the site in 2008 for £65m and planned to anchor a £400m redevelopment. The plans included a 100,000 sq ft Tesco Extra, a 200,000 sq ft retail park and a new stadium for Everton Football Club.
However, the scheme was among 49 development sites Tesco announced it would not be building following the discovery of a £250m black hole in its accounts. That triggered huge losses and a £4.7bn writedown on its portfolio, including £925m for abandoned development sites.
St Modwen is now expected to draw up new plans for the site which will not include a new stadium.
Morgan Williams is advising Tesco on the sale.
