East Kilbride shopping centre has been sold out of administration and is set to be redeveloped through a “once in a generation” masterplan that will radically transform the shopping and leisure destination into a vibrant urban environment.
M Core, owners of Glasgow’s Princes Square and The Centre in Livingston, has acquired East Kilbride town centre for £20million.
This major transformation could see millions of pounds spent to breathe a new lease of life into the town centre and revitalise the South Lanarkshire town following years of decline.
I am from East Kilbride, I spent a large part of my youth walking through the patchwork of interconnected shopping malls that marked its progress. I have witnessed the centre’s slow demise over the years and I truly hope this sale heralds a new beginning for my hometown.
Administrators Interpath confirmed the new owners are also acquiring the centre’s car parks in the sale, so it will be interesting to see if parking charges - a bone of contention for many - will be scrapped.
The once thriving shopping destination, billed as Scotland’s largest undercover retail and leisure centre covering more than one million square feet, attracted visitors from across the country, boasting a cinema, ice rink, bars, restaurants and big name high street stores. At one time it also had three nightclubs.
Currently home to big brands like Primark, H&M and JD Sports, over the years it has lost many big high street names like Zara, Next, M&S and Debenhams.
Disgruntled East Kilbride shoppers hit out after Marks and Spencer shut up its flagship shop in the town centre for good with locals and MPs campaigning to save the beloved store which continued as an outlet for a while, but was branded a ‘ghost store’.
The rise of online shopping coupled with inflated rental costs has left the centre looking like a shell of its former self, with 75 vacant units and over 500,000 sq foot of empty floor space - accounting for up to 40 per cent of the complex’s total retail footprint.
The Hub EK, an ambitious £10million leisure attraction, failed to hit the mark with a handful of restaurants exiting the Olympia Mall soon after its opening in 2016. The Handmade Burger Co. pulled down the shutters within just nine months. Aerial Adventures also departed the crisis-hit centre in 2023.
Plans for a luxury hotel and casino were scrapped after local landmark The Stuart Hotel was left to rot for nearly six years before finally being torn down in 2013.
A multi-million pound development was to include a nightclub, restaurant, bars and a gym. However the group claimed in 2011 it could not follow through with the plans because of the financial climate.
Former owners G1 Group were forced to take immediate action when the local authority served an urgent demolition notice on the leisure and nightclub giant.
The sad, and for many, unnecessary demise of the hotel, a once-thriving social haunt, stirred up mixed emotions for local community groups who had long-campaigned for the hotel’s restoration, and generations of families in East Kilbride hold many fond memories of the Stuart Hotel in its glory days.
In its heyday, with its grand ballroom and cocktail bar, the Stuart Hotel was one of the country’s most popular wedding and social venues.
The first new hotel in the town was opened by Scottish and Newcastle Brewers in 1959.
EK, East Kilbride went into administration just weeks before Christmas 2022 with debts of over £114million, plunging the future of the centre into uncertainty.
This followed a series of difficult years for the centre, which has struggled to retain existing, or attract new businesses to the town.
Owners Sapphire, a Luxembourg-based shell company, became insolvent and Scoop - asset management to administrators Interpath - worked with South Lanarkshire Council to stabilise the centre.
The council gave the green light for a bold £62.2m, 10-year masterplan that will radically transform the shopping and leisure destination to respond to the rapid decline of in-person shopping that has blighted town centres across the country.
As part of the redevelopment, retail space will be reduced to create green and community spaces, with the neighbouring Centre West mall currently being bulldozed to be converted into a housing development, creating up to 400 new private and affordable homes in the heart of the town.
And a new heart would be created for the town with a mix of urban living and a new civic hub which would replace the current Ballerup Hall and Civic Centre with a facility to rival those in nearby towns.
It is hoped the move will drive an annual footfall of around 15 million, returning to pre-pandemic levels.
Joe Fagan MSP has been lobbying for action on the town centre for years and hopes the new owners will bring “radical change” to East Kilbride.
He said: “This is the news East Kilbride has been waiting for. The town centre needs a new buyer and a buyer with the capacity and ambition to invest. This has the potential to bring the East Kilbride Master Plan to life.
“The council is moving at pace on the Centre West site but the remainder of the centre, still one of the biggest indoor shopping centres in the country, is a development opportunity too. It’s time to unlock that opportunity and turn East Kilbride town centre around.”