MORNING NEWS: Peel and ArcelorMittal prepare for Chatham Docks vote

Good morning. Here’s your daily round-up of the latest news and views from EG, as well as some real estate-focused stories from the papers. A showdown is looming over Peel’s plan to redevelop the Chatham Docks Industrial Estate in Kent, which steel group ArcelorMittal says threatens its reinforced concrete steel product manufacturing operation at the docks and could force its closure. Medway Council’s planning committee will this evening vote on the mixed-use scheme. In a letter to outgoing secretary of state Micheal Gove, ArcelorMittal’s Matthew Brooks said: “Chatham Docks’ closure would have a significant impact on the UK reinforcement industry, leading to serious, potentially irreversible long-term harm, with immediate consequences for the resilience and carbon intensity of the sector.” Stoke-on-Trent is seeking development partners after revamping its vision for the regeneration of the city centre. Council city director Jon Rouse told EG he expects up to four strategic partners working across the city, starting with the Etruscan Square scheme. “We are offering not just Etruscan, but also a long-term partnership whereby we will put in other sites as well,” Rouse added. “We have initially packaged four sites, but we have said we are open on a deal-by-deal basis to put in other sites that we own to extend the partnership, which could last anything up to 10 years in terms of a long-term development relationship.” In this morning’s listed real estate news, LondonMetric Property has sold some £31m of retail properties while buying £45m of urban warehouses, and bar operator Nightcap has dropped plans to bid for troubled rival Revolution Bars Group. Plus Bristol’s EQ office is up for grabs, Adam Neumann has ended his plans to try to buy back WeWork, Pets at Home is looking to renegotiate dozens of leases, and large corporates are going big for flex workspace. All the news from EG, plus a selection of headlines from the nationals: LondonMetric offloads retail and buys urban warehousesNightcap pulls plans to bid for RevolutionStoke begins hunt for partner on 10-year city centre revampPeel steeled for pushback on Chatham Docks voteDon’t let housing overshadow commercial real estate this Independence DayAbrdn’s European logistics fund value fallsSpecial Opportunities REIT eyes £500m debutTrafalgar shares suspended on takeover talksMTVH slides to £80m loss due to fire safety payments and write-downsCadogan appoints head of placeGlobal real estate AUM falls amid repricing pressureEasyHotel checks into fresh debt with SantanderColumbia Threadneedle eyes lab conversion in OxfordBig corporates are a flex fillip in LondonPets at Home to renegotiate 40 leasesAscend hires head of BTR leasingNeumann scraps bid to buy back WeWorkBristol’s EQ office on the market for £116mAPC Series: Know your rights of lightWeWork’s new owner pitches no-drama turnaround for Adam Neumann’s old company (£)Founder sells £68m of IWG shares to pay bank loan (£)More homes for sale will keep prices in check, says Zoopla (£)How the great and good of Britain’s boardrooms refused to back Labour (£)China weighs record fine for PwC over Evergrande auditing work (£)