The future of Cardiff's House of Fraser department store is once again questioned as its historic Howells building home is sold.
The huge £100m deal plans to see the building transformed from retail premises into a mixed-use development, with plans launched to turn the building into an aparthotel, build-to-rent apartments, restaurants, shops, leisure offerings and office space.
The deal is the latest in a long list of changes to both the owner of the building - and resident House of Fraser - who has called the Grade II listed building home for more than a century.
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The future of the department store was first plunged into uncertainty in August 2018 when the business fell into administration.
Just hours after the chain went into administration when talks with its creditors failed to reach an agreement, all 59 stores were bought by millionaire businessman Mike Ashley for £90m.
Sports Direct, owned by Ashley, already held an 11% stake in House of Fraser. Before the deal was announced, owners of the department store had earmarked Cardiff as one of 31 shops that would close under a restructuring plan.
The landlord of the St Mary's Street building at the time, Azeemeh Zaheer, CEO of Naissance Capital Real Estate, said she was working with Mike Ashley's team to keep House of Fraser in Cardiff "open and trading."
She told WalesOnline in September 2018: "I am pleased to confirm that we are working with Mike Ashley’s team to keep the Cardiff House of Fraser store open and trading.
"We are working together to keep one of Wales' best-known department store open and, most importantly, saving hundreds of jobs in our local community.
"There is great potential in our freehold, 1.7-acre, iconic site; it’s not only rich with history and heritage, it’s in a prime location in the middle of the City centre benefiting from unprecedented regeneration.
"The iconic status our store has had in the city for 15 decades, for shoppers and employees alike is noteworthy and we are grateful to the store’s loyal customers.
"As the changing nature of retail demands new technology and infrastructure, we have no illusions of the road ahead but are willing to put in the hard work to make it a success story."
A month later in October 2019 , a lease for the building was advertised online offering a scheme with "potential" for hotel and apartment use.
The 1.7-acre space was being advertised through real estate agency Saxbury - offering the potential for more than 200 rooms. Landlord Zaheer declined to comment on the lease of the building.
The advert stated: "Saxbury is advising on a historic 1.7-acre, hospitality led mixed-use scheme with potential for hotel and apart-hotel (C1) use class.
"Currently the House of Fraser department store, the site has been re-planned to accommodate either a hotel (214 units), an apart-hotel (134 units) or a boutique hotel (64 units)."
The biggest blow to the building's future - in turn casting doubt on House of Fraser's place in the city - was a damning report obtained by WalesOnline a month later in November 2019 which revealed the building needed £25m of work to make it safe.
The report showed that converting part of the 277,000 sq ft building into a hotel, one of the proposals for the site , would incur a £45m bill.
Among the other findings were that there was a significant amount of asbestos throughout the building, a substantial fire risk, all the mechanical and engineering systems are at the end of their life expectancy and water was supplied by lead piping which is unsafe.
In what was expected to be one of the biggest commercial property deals of the year, it was announced in 2020 that the sale of the historic site had been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Avison Young had been appointed as fixed charge receivers for the building at the end of 2019. It was tasked with selling the iconic building in the hope of securing some return for the financiers of the acquisition.
Now, four years after the future of House of Fraser was plunged into chaos and the development of the building was proposed, the saga about the future of the building - and the department store's place in the city - continues.
This latest deal has raised questions about whether House of Fraser will remain in the Howells building when their tenancy ends. The department store has been approached for comment.
On Monday, January 17, 2022 it was confirmed that the building had been bought by the Thackeray Group who planned to transform the building into a £100m new mixed-use destination.
The real estate investment, development and asset management firm, have acquired the 275,000 sq ft Victorian building, which occupies a prime 1.7-acre site, out of receivership. The value of the deal has not been disclosed, BusinessLive reports.
Thackeray, which has a track record of regenerating and repurposing heritage buildings into mixed-use spaces, is aiming to carry out a "net carbon zero regeneration" of the building.
Thackeray’s £100m plans also include a large central courtyard along with public realm improvements, which will be sympathetic to the original Percy Thomas-designed site.
The property comprises an array of building forms, including the original 1800s’ stone façade fronting St Mary Street, 1909-designed square buildings on the corner of St Mary Street and Wharton Street, the Bethany Baptist Chapel in the middle of the building and a variety of more modern infill development.
Due to its listed status, most of the building's features are protected.
House of Fraser have been approached to comment on the future of the department store in the historic Howells building after this recent deal.
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