A specialist developer — which earlier this year snapped up Birmingham’s historic Assay Office — has now completed South Yorkshire’s largest property investment deal in decades.
TCN UK, dedicated to creating unique and innovative workspaces for small and growing businesses, acquired Rotherham’s disused civic offices site from the town’s metropolitan borough council in 2013 as part of the authority’s Rotherham Renaissance project.
Since then it has secured the £39m funding from Osprey Equity Partners needed to transform part of the plot into a 110,000sq ft Tesco superstore and prepare the remainder for future projects. The food store is in the final stages of fitting out and will open before Christmas.
In addition to creating 450 retail jobs, TCN also agreed with the council to spend £4m on Rotherham’s public realm improvements, extensive revisions to road and utilities infrastructure.
“Bringing this project to completion is a milestone in the regeneration of Rotherham town centre and has transformed the area positively, paving the way for renewed investment in the area,” commented TCN’s development director, Stephen Holme.
“The repaving of Rotherham’s High Street and reinstatement of the town’s Hastings Clock into Effingham Square were initiatives that we willingly took to improve the immediate environment.”
The executive stressed it was now imperative that the Yorkshire town cash in on his company’s scheme and show other developers it was ready for further investment.
“What is crucial now is that Rotherham capitalises on this level of change,” Holmes added. “South Yorkshire has huge development potential, but is not yet witnessing the levels of investment and pace of change that we are seeing across other sites in the UK such as Bristol and Birmingham.”
TCN has been active in the European real estate market since 1994 and with projects underway in The Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom, Spain and Austria holds a property portfolio worth €410m. It launched in Britain in 2006 and has seen success with schemes such as the Piano House restoration in London’s Brixton and Bristol’s Temple Studios.
In May this year it acquired Birmingham’s Grade II listed Assay Office in Newhall Street. At the time TCN UK director, Richard Pearce, said: “This acquisition is part of our ongoing strategy to identify key regional sites that have great access to London.
“Birmingham’s rapidly maturing digital and technological sector is also a great draw for us as we have found that they are ideal occupiers for this kind of space.” In keeping with its development philosophy TCN has pledged to retain the “character” of the landmark Victorian building.
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