Property developers snap up city department store after bidding war
Property developers behind one of the biggest projects in modern times in Edinburgh have swooped to snap up one of the city’s most iconic department stores.
Edinburgh-based firm Parabola has purchased the House of Fraser store on Princes Street after a bidding war.
Agents handling the sale of the site, which has had a department store on it since 1894, said it had gone for a price “significantly in excess” of its £13.7 million price tag.
Parabola has bought up the House of Fraser site months after unveiling plans for a new £500 million “urban quarter” on the outskirts of Edinburgh.
The city’s biggest development for well over a decade is earmarked for a swathe of land on both sides of the tram line near the Gyle Centre.
About 43 acres of undeveloped land to the south of the Edinburgh Park business park would be transformed under the firm’s plans. Parabola is hoping to begin work on site later this year on the west Edinburgh development.
When the House of Fraser site, which has been run by the retail giants since 1976, went on the market in October it was suggested that it could be converted into a hotel.
House of Fraser has a longterm lease on the building, which runs until 2058. However, it emerged earlier this month that the company had asked the landlords of some of its department stores for rent reductions.theretailer,which
0 The House of Fraser site in Edinburgh has been bought up by Parabola for more than £13.7 million also runs the historic Jenners store on Princes Street, had its status downgraded by ratings agency Moody’s before Christmas due to weak trading.
Parabola has described its acquisition of the building, at the west end of Princes Street, as a “strategic purchase.”
The firm’s other projects include the Central Square office development in Newcastle and the mixed-use Kings Place project in London, which included a new concert hall, conference centre and waterfront restaurant. Parabola managing director Tony Hordon aid: “We’re delighted to have secured this iconic building which is a strategic purchase and addition to the Parabola investment portfolio. It provides diversification to our other Edinburgh asset at Edinburgh Park, which is subject to a live planning application, to create a European exemplar of a new quarter of the city.”