February 25, 2011 10.18 am This story is over 156 months old

Waterside Mall sold, set for revamp

New look: The Waterside will get some new investment after being sold this week.

Waterside Shopping Centre on Lincoln’s High Street is set to get a revamp, costing millions of pounds.

The shopping centre has been bought out this week by Capital And Regional PLC, costing £24.8 million.

The new managing company said that they will be investing around £5m into refurbishing the popular shopping complex.

The seven empty units in the Waterside will also see revamps and those currently working in the shopping centre will not lose their jobs.

An announcement about which brands will be moved into the empty units is expected at the end of 2011.

Speaking to This Is Business, Executive Director Kenneth Ford said: “We want to make sure it is a space in which people want to shop and businesses want to trade.

“It’s all about the quality of the space and some of the units are not right at the moment. We will look at what can be done to improve them and make them more attractive.

“We want to be a fully occupied and trading centre.”

The news comes after concerns about the amount of empty shops in the city, which amounted to 15% of commercial properties in Lincoln.

Lincoln’s MP Karl McCartney said: “We are living in a very difficult economic climate, not of our own making, and I know that the City Council has tried to mitigate the effects of this by helping some businesses in various ways, including examining the current level of their business rates.”