Investors step forward to convert former nightclub
MORE than £30,000 has been raised in just a week from a share offer aimed at bringing Plymouth’s former Millennium nightclub and cinema building back into use as a music venue and business hub.
After just seven days, 10% of the minimum target has been met with 55 investors already backing the ambitious project.
Most have bought shares for the minimum £50 required, but some have paid more, including one business which has invested £10,000.
With 48 days to go until the offer, on the Crowdfunder platform, closes, Nudge Community Builders, the social enterprise which bought the vast Union Street building in 2020, is delighted with the early success.
Wendy Hart, co-founder and director of Nudge, said: “We were blown away by receiving £25,000 in the first three days. And it is a citywide response. If we get enough people to invest £50 it all adds up.”
The shares went on sale to the public on October 11 in a bid to raise up to £520,000 for the regeneration of the vast former nightclub and cinema building.
Nudge would be happy with £500,000 but the appeal must hit £285,000 by December 6, 2021, to continue.
Up to £70,000 can be pledged by each individual investor and the shares promise a return of 3.6%.
The Crowdfunder page can be found here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/nudgeshares
Nudge is working with partners at London-based workspace developer Eat Work Art, which has already renovated run-down buildings in London and Plymouth, to bring the enormous pile back into use.
Nudge bosses have said the first businesses could be operating from the building by mid-2022 as work continues on creating a music venue in the main auditorium. The overall project could cost up to £4m.
Nudge said that by raising £500,000 of community share investment it would enable the repayment of money borrowed to buy the building and also go towards having the ground floor of the gigantic pile in use by 2022.
It is planning a phased development. In Phase 1, the main ground floor space will be repaired and servicing provided to allow for independent businesses with a focus on suitable commercial uses that complement the wider ambitions for the building and create local jobs.
In Phase 2, the front portion of the ground floor will be given over to public-facing uses, such as independent makers or a public art gallery and servicing the wider building with toilets, etc.
We were blown away by receiving £25,000 in the first three days WENDY HART