‘Groundhog Day again’ over shops
Council: Progress on units
Fresh assurances have been given that shop units in Goosecroft Road will within weeks welcome tenants – three years after they were built.
The £6 million development at the corner of Goosecroft Road and Maxwell Place features 53 flats with four shop units on the ground floor.
Since the building was completed at the start of 2016 residents have moved into the flats but none of the shops has been occupied despite repeated assurances from council officials that tenants were due to move in.
At a meeting of Stirling Council’s environment and housing committee on Thursday, Labour councillor Danny Gibson, who had described the matter as ‘Groundhog Day’ at a meeting in February, asked for an update on the letting.
Speaking last week, he added: “It’s Groundhog Day again. All the windows are still the same as they were. Here we are in November some 10 months on. What is it going to take to see some change at Goosecroft Road?”
Officials said fit-out had started the previous week on a unit being taken by pizza takeaway Papa John’s and laminate was almost ready to be removed from its windows.
They added: “The tenant for unit 3 is just looking for his lawyer to sign off documents.
“We will have just unit 2A remaining. We have been speaking to some targeted retail operators as well in the last month. There is no movement on that as yet but it has been suggested there is some positive movement in general in the town centre.
“We are waiting on an update from the tenant of unit 1 for a move-in date. His builder has been a bit delayed but it should be within the next month.”
In September the committee members were told a tenant – Premier Eye
Clinic and Laser Surgery Ltd – was set to move into unit one the following month.
At that time, head of housing Lorna Cameron said a potential tenant had also accepted the completed landlord works for unit 2B and officers were finalising the date of possession, with unit 2A vacant but being “actively marketed” with interest expected to increase significantly once the adjoining units were occupied. Arrangements for the lease and landlord works on unit three were being finalised and were expected to start in October.
In April this year officers said one of the units could have a tenant by May, with senior manager for infrastructure Brian Roberts reporting a deadline to conclude the date of entry at unit one had been made, although the property would be remarketed should this not go ahead. Unit two was split to improve market interest. A date of entry had been agreed with a prospective tenant for unit 2B at the end of April, said Mr Roberts, with finalisation of the agreement started and landlord works due to be completed prior to entry.
At that time he added: “Unit three is currently the subject of interest from a prospective tenant and heads of terms have been agreed. Unit 2A has had no further interest to date but it is hoped that with occupancy of 2B with a key tenant in May, interest will increase.”
All the windows are still the same as they were. Here we are in November, some 10 months on Councillor Danny Gibson