Cardiff County Council has entered into exclusive partnership with developer Rightacres, and the pair have orchestrated a highly secretive and politically charged land-grab of several prime city centre sites in a bid to create a £400m Gateway financial district in the heart of the city.
The new scheme will see 800,000 sq ft of commercial, residential and leisure space created between the Central station and the Millennium Stadium, as well as a promenade linking the two, with the first 130,000 sq ft office block now going in for planning.
Rightacres has a memorandum of understanding with the council on the redevelopment, with the two parties piecing together various sites from a number of owners and developing a masterplan over the next five years.
The council has gone under offer on three major sites for tens of millions of pounds – Mars Pension Trust’s five-storey Marland House, Albermarle’s 121,000 sq ft St David’s House, and the vacant former Western Mail and South Wales Echo site at the corner of Park Street and Havelock Street, where Jurys Inn had planned a 236-bed hotel.
Other targets include the bus station which dominates the Central Square, while Trinity Mirror – the publisher of the Western Mail and South Wales Echo – has been approached over its HQ but isn’t incorporated in the plan.
Southgate House, the NCP’s 508-space Wood Street Car Park and the Millennium Plaza are not being targeted in the sale, while two further sites are understood to be in advanced negotiations.
Rightacres owns a one acre plot – the site of the now-defunct £50m Seren residential project – on the Western side of the square. A new 130,000 sq ft office block to be known as 1 Central Square (pictured) going in for planning shortly, will be the first development of the project.
The purchases are being funded from a pot of money the Welsh Government paid the previous council administration, to buy out of a planning obligation to take down the Herbert Street Bridge.
The council has indicated its desire to acquire long leaseholds for a “modern integrated transport hub”, but the site of the project was previously a mystery and the council had repeatedly refused to name any acquisitions – prompting Liberal Democrat MP Jenny Willott to say she was “disgusted” by the lack of transparency and a “blatant disregard for the taxpayers”.
The acquisitions mark a partial revival of a shelved £160m plan to build 4m sq ft of office space, a revamped bus station and significant public realm works to create a Welsh financial “powerhouse” – shelved by the city’s Labour administration immediately after coming to power in 2012.
Cardiff council is known for its controversial hands-on approach to addressing the city’s severe shortage of Grade A stock.
DTZ markets St David’s House, Savills markets the former Western Mail site, while Jones Lang LaSalle and Cooke & Arkwright market Marland House.
Rightacres chief executive Paul McCarthy said he was looking forward to “working with Cardiff County Council on a new premium financial and professional services destination at the heart of the Cardiff city enterprise zone.”
Councillor Russell Goodway denied that the scheme was a runner-up to the council’s thwarted plans to create a similar scheme at Callaghan Square.
“Central Square is an embarrassment to the city – it’s the most important location in the city centre and it’s in urgent need of upgrading.”
All other parties declined to comment.
chris.berkin@estatesgazette.com
