History
In 1998 the Forster Square Development Partnership was established between Magellan Properties, Caddick Developments and Bradford Metropolitan District Council. They planned a 51,096 m² (550,000 sq ft) shopping centre containing Debenhams, BHS, C&A, Marks and Spencer and 100 shops and other leisure facilities. (BHS already had a store in Broadway which was demolished as part of the demolition of the previous development on the site and C&A also had a store on the old Broadway although closed all of their UK stores in 2001 and thus cancelled plans to be part of this redevelopment). The partnership sold it to Stannifer which was bought out by the Westfield Group in December 2004.
Planning permission for the development was awarded approved on 10 September 2003 with the claim that 3,000 new jobs could be created. Demolition on the Forster Square site started on 18 March 2004 and by mid-2006 the site was empty apart from a large pile of rubble. It was originally hoped that the complex would be open by late 2007 (with construction commencing in early 2006), but with a lack of anchor tenants and with many workmen still working on Westfield Derby, the start date for construction was pushed back. The delays lead to Bradford Council threatening to take back control of the site from Westfield, if progress wasn't made.
Read more about this topic: Westfield Bradford
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