Council commit to redevelopment of popular Altrincham shopping centre

Trafford Council is planning to make a further commitment to the long-term redevelopment of a popular Altrincham shopping centre.

The Council’s Executive has rubber stamped a decision to invest £400k into the upkeep of the Grafton Centre as decisions are made over the nature of any future development.

The local authority bought the 81,000sq ft centre in 2018 and asked property firm CBRE to carry out an appraisal of the redevelopment and delivery options post-Covid. The Council had started a procurement process to find a development partner for the centre and the exercise resulted in two bids being received.  During final negotiations with the preferred bidder, theCouncil failed to conclude a satisfactory outcome to enable it to progress the scheme and with COVID introducing a new level of risk to the proposed partnership, the decision was made to postpone any redevelopment.

The Grafton Centre, built in the 1970s at the junction of George Street and Regent Road - with retail outlets on the ground floor and a seven-storey hotel leased to Travelodge above - is a key town centre site.

Led by the Council and its partners, Altrincham has undergone a hugely successful multi-million pound revitalisation in recent years and is one of the most successful town centres in the North West.

Cllr James Wright, Trafford Council’s Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration, said:

“Trafford Council is totally committed to the long-term redevelopment of the Grafton Centre but we wanted to renew our options following the huge disruption caused by Covid. We bought the centre to redevelop in a different economic climate to the one we find ourselves in today – and Covid has changed everything.

“Trafford Council will now focus solely on the future of the Centre as we go forward post-Covid. Our project teams will look at different options for the site and report back to us. We are very proud of the work we have carried out in Altrincham and have been at the forefront of the regeneration of the town centre in recent years including the successful Market Quarter, public realm works and Altrincham Business Improvement District.”

Posted on Tuesday 25th January 2022