Council buys recession-busting shopping centre

This article is provided courtesy of the news feed at http://www.newstartmag.co.uk/news

A shopping centre that has retained 100% occupancy despite the recession has changed hands as part of a £11.5m sale.

Developer St Modwen has sold Catford Shopping Centre in southeast London to Lewisham Council.

The council will run the centre through a wholly owned company called the Catford Regeneration Partnership.

St Modwen, which has owned the centre since 1993, will reinvest funds raised through the sale into ventures including its other property in the borough, Leegate Shopping Centre, where plans for redevelopment are currently being considered.

Senior development manager Killian Morris said Catford Shopping Centre was ‘a vibrant shopping facility at the heart of the borough, and we are confident that the council’s decision to purchase the centre will see it continue to play a pivotal part in Catford and among the local community’.