STORM FRANCIS DELAYS STACK
Opening of new Seaburn shopping village postponed a week
The opening of Sunderland’s much-anticipated STACK Seaburn development has been postponed due to Storm Francis.
Strong wind and rain has whipped through Wearside in recent days and it’s affected the final construction work of the shipping container village on the site of the former Seaburn Centre.
The site was due to open on Friday, in time for the Bank Holiday Weekend, but that has now been put back to 5pm on Friday, September 4.
All those who had booked slots for the first week will be able to rebook and will be offered food and drinks vouchers as compensation.
Owners Danieli Holdings said: “We regret to announce that we have been forced to make a very difficult decision and will be postponing the opening of STACK Seaburn to September 4 at 5pm.
"Everyone working on the project has gone above and beyond to bring everything in on time for the Bank Holiday weekend, but due to a number of extenuating circumstances, this is no longer going to be feasible. We appreciate that people who have already booked will be very disappointed and will need to change their plans last minute.
"To compensate for the inconvenience caused, anyone who has booked can choose a date and time to rebook in September (subject to availability) and will be given a food voucher and one drinks voucher for each person in the original booking. Customers who have booked will be contacted directly with more information on re-booking. The main cause for the delay is due to the tent structure and the current weather conditions. There is a weather warning now in place as a result of Storm Francis, which could see torrential rainfall and unseasonably strong winds across the North East from today through to the weekend.
"These conditions make it impossible to erect all of the stretched tents, which cover the majority of the scheme, and provide shelter from the elements to STACK customers, in time for the weekend."
The build was already considerably delayed due to the pandemic and had originally planned to open in May.
All the food and drink units have now been taken, many by Sunderland businesses, such as Downey’s Fish & Chips, Chapos Tacos and Farah’s Italiano. The majority of the lifestyle units are also taken, with only a couple of retail containers left.