First tenants for former mill site

The owner of a former mill site in Renfrewshire has secured three big names as its initial tenants.

Aldi, Starbucks and Home Bargains have signed up to create a supermarket, drivethrough coffee shop and general merchandise store respectively at phase one of Paton’s Mill Retail Park in Johnstone.

Bell Building Projects, the main contractor, has been on site since mid-december and is working towards completion of the first phase of the development masterplan this summer. The site was acquired in January 2012 following a process led by Renfrewshire Council to identify a developer that would review the site and enable its redevelopment following significant fire damage nearly two years earlier.

Public consultations took place in June 2016 and the redevelopment masterplan was approved by the council in January 2017. It includes the regeneration of the former shoelace factory with retail units, a drive-through restaurant, pub-restaurant and housing, with the opening-up of the riverside woodland with a historical trail.

Announcing the tenants, Claire Donaldson of 4th Developments said: “The redevelopment of the Paton’s Mill site offers an exciting new gateway for Johnstone’s high street and as such will offer a prime location for shoppers.

“We’re delighted to announce Starbucks, Aldi and Home Bargains as the initial tenants. We are now focusing on securing an occupier for Phase 2.”

Aldi said: “We’re aware that there has been increasing demand in recent years for an Aldi store serving Johnstone… and we look forward to providing a store to the local community.”