Future Development
The area to the north of the centre may be developed over the next few years into another shopping centre, planned to contain more sizeable retail units to try to attract some of the larger stores into Stockport compared to the on average smaller units currently offered in the town centre by the Merseyway, this development is to be called Bridgefield. The initial developer was Australian Company, Lend Lease Corporation, who withdrew from the project in August 2008, throwing into doubt the whole of the town centre masterplan. But the council are still keen for another developer to take on the redevelopment scheme. If constructed and when completed it is expected that this development will directly compete with the Merseyway for similar tenants. It has the backing of the council as it is the largest part of the town centre masterplan; 'Future Stockport'.
In 2004 the local council announced that they were drawing up plans to redevelop the centre in conjunction with the owner Stockport Holdings Ltd
In April 2007 Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council announced plans for a £2.25million refurbishment of the centre's car park, involving a major cosmetic improvement and a possible increase in the number of spaces.
In August 2008, Lend Lease Corporation announced their intention to withdraw from the Bridgefield Redevelopment project due to global economic conditions and a drop in profits for 2007, Lend Lease had originally been selected as preferred developer by Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council in 2006 and had spent considerable amounts developing plans. This decision has thrown into doubt the large scale redevelopment of this area, and could mean the Merseyway will continue to be the prime retail site in Stockport for considerable time, but may be redeveloped to provide more retail space.
Read more about this topic: Merseyway Shopping Centre
Famous quotes containing the words future and/or development:
“We live in an age when to be young and to be indifferent can be no longer synonymous. We must prepare for the coming hour. The claims of the Future are represented by suffering millions; and the Youth of a Nation are the trustees of Posterity.”
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)
“If you complain of people being shot down in the streets, of the absence of communication or social responsibility, of the rise of everyday violence which people have become accustomed to, and the dehumanization of feelings, then the ultimate development on an organized social level is the concentration camp.... The concentration camp is the final expression of human separateness and its ultimate consequence. It is organized abandonment.”
—Arthur Miller (b. 1915)