Llanelli’s St. Elli Shopping Centre is to be sold at auction, with a price tag of £2.25 million.
Located centrally in the town, the St Elli Centre was sold at a commercial property auction held by Acuitus on the 24th of September.
The shopping centre, originally built in 1997, is 90,425 sq ft, and is situated on a 7.68 acre site. It is used by numerous businesses taking up nearly all of the letting space on the premises, including a Poundland, Sports Direct, Argos, Card Factory, and Peacocks, and Asda, with 96% of available space presently let.
Currently it’s producing an income of approximately £725,000, and is a central location in the town, with immediate access to many other retail locations, such as Boots, The Works, Home Bargains, and is accessible by road and by public transport.
Llanelli is part of an ongoing regeneration scheme intended to increase footfall and public accessibility, and has struggled to return a prosperity that has diminished with the ongoing expansion and refinement of Parc Trostre and Parc Pemberton, which is widely considered to have more retail variety, and is often considered more convenient to travel to, despite not being central to the town, and has naturally been affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and the subsequent sharp rise in Internet shopping.
Residents of Llanelli have had mixed opinions about the auction, with some fearing a change of ownership will hasten an ongoing decline.
However, this is not the first time the site has been auctioned, and was sold to London NewRiver Ltd, one of the UK’s largest owners and managers of shopping centres,on a freehold basis for the sum of £29.2 million.
Many remain positive about the sale, and assume that, at worst, nothing major will change, as the space is centrally located to many other businesses, and as such is very unlikely to be used as anything other than retail space.
Director of Acuitus, Peter Mayo, was positive about the sale throughout, saying:
“Shopping centres in key locations are attractive to private investors. This is an opportunity to own the main retailing location within the town, following news of the £3m regeneration scheme, which plans to connect the town centre to Eastgate with walkways and provide new restaurants, apartments, and office space.”
What do you think about the sale? Is it going to have a positive effect on the town’s economy, or will things only worsen from here? Let us know what you think!
