Mid Croydon - formerly the Minerva Park Place development

Mid Croydon is a term that the Council has coined to label the area from Allders to the Clocktower.  More precisely, it covers the area bounded by Park Lane, Katharine Street, High Street, North End and George Street.  It also includes Allders and a few additional buildings north of George Street.  The area is roughly equivalent to Minerva's ill-fated Park Place development scheme. 

This prime site should be a very vibrant retailing and office location.   However, despite its prime location, this area is notably blighted as evidenced by:

• the poor condition of Allders which for decades was Croydon’s flagship retailer

• the blight of the once thriving St George’s Walk shopping precinct

• the high levels of vacant space in the office buildings

• the general decay and ugliness of the 1960/70s architecture

The key to redeveloping this area lies with the largest landholder – Minerva.  It owns 6.1 acres divided into two land holdings:

• the freehold of Allders - which comprises 500,000 square feet of retail space

• the St George’s Walk shopping precinct and the surrounding office buildings which incorporates 1,000,000 square feet of offices dating from the 1960/70s.

Minerva originally secured control of part of this site in 2002.  After Minerva bought the freehold of Allders for the bargain price of £49m on 23 April 2004, it was in a position to enter into a development agreement with Croydon Council in December 2004. The proposed £500m development was known as the “Park Place” scheme.  This very ambitious 900,000 square feet retail led development scheme was dubbed by the press as the "Bluewater" of Surrey.  It was hoped that John Lewis would be the anchor tenant for this development.  However, the Park Place development failed as Minerva could not secure the necessary funding. This was largely due to Minerva being unable to secure John Lewis as the anchor tenant.

Croydon Council has recently proposed a Mid Croydon master plan in an attempt to restart the stalled development process.  The Council is seeking to bring together existing land owners so as to consider development options for the site.  The Council’s proposals are heavily weighted towards the construction of new residential accommodation.  However, this emphasis on residential development is very different to Minerva’s previous failed scheme - which was retail and office space led.  Residential development is significantly less profitable than retail or office development.  This is especially true if a large proportion of the residential dwellings are affordable accommodation – as the Council is proposing.

Minerva, as the largest landholder, has an effective veto over any future redevelopment plan.  It has as yet unclear as to whether Minerva will support the Council’s proposals.  Given the current subdued economic environment, Croydon’s glut of vacant office space and the huge amount of new office space proposed by the Stanhope Schroders’ development, there would appear to be little commercial viability in weighting any future scheme towards office development.  A significant retail redevelopment must also be questionable given John’s Lewis’ reluctance to move to this site in the much better economic environment 6 years ago.  The only realistic option therefore appears to be a redevelopment that is residential led – albeit that this will be far less profitable for Minerva.

Minerva is independently investigating a remodelling of Allders.  The suggestion is that Allders could continue, but on a smaller scale, alongside new retail units within a revamped building.  The Allders leaseholder has indicated that he would be prepared to invest in the store if an agreement can be reached with Minerva on the site's long term future.

Sources on Mid Croydon development
A blog post dated 31 January 2011 outlining the history of the Minerva site:
Minerva, the Gordion knot and Croydon

The page from Minerva's website detailing its mid Croydon site and the options it is currently considering:
Minerva's Croydon Estate

A post from the "Inside Croydon" blog dated 20 February 2011 highlighting the parking and infrastructure problems:
Parking “problems” in Croydon? It could get a lot worse

An article from the Croydon Advertiser dated 11.3.2010 reports on Minerva's intentions following the collapse of the Park Place scheme:
Minerva drawing up new plan for Croydon's Park Place site

An article from the Croydon Advertiser dated 12.5.2010 reports on the collapse of Minerva's original Park Place development scheme:
Croydon Council abandons agreement to build new shopping centre

An article from the Croydon Guardian dated 19.3.2010 reports on the plight of the traders in St George's Walk:
St George's Walk traders still struggling

An article from the Croydon Advertiser dated 2.7.2010 reports on Allders willingness to invest provided that a long term agreement can be negotiated with Minerva:
Promise of future investment secures Allders' future in Croydon town centre

A thought provoking post from the Inside Croydon blog dated 20.2.2011 on its Mid Croydon consultation:
Parking “problems” in Croydon? It could get a lot worse

Stanhope Schroders (Ruskin Square - previously Arrowcroft's ill-fated Croydon Gateway/Arena development)

Menta (Cherry Orchard Road)

Public services delivery hub (Fell Road - the Council's replacement for Taberner House constructed under the John Laing regeneration deal)

Taberner House (The Councils' current headquarters - scheduled for demolition in 2013)

NHS site (The former site of the now demolished Croydon General Hospital - just to the north of West Croydon station)