Mander Centre refurbishment will follow sale

The sale of the 620,000 sq ft centre to Benson Elliot Capital Management for £59 million was completed yesterday.

The centre, which was developed between 1968 and 1974, was put on the market with a £50m price tag last year and has been bought from Mander Investments.

Benson Elliott will now refurbish the existing complex. Planning permission was granted earlier this year for the project.

The Mander Centre currently has more than 100 retail units, including Boots, BHS, JD Sports, New Look, Starbucks, Clarks, H Samuel, The Entertainer and Costa Coffee.

Its re-development will be anchored by a new 90,000 sq ft Debenhams store trading over three floors.

It will also see the return of the iconic Barbara Hepworth sculpture, Rock Form. While the work is taking place, it will be at the city's art gallery, before returning to the Mander Centre for a loan period once the refurbishment work has finished.

Councillor Peter Bilson, the council's regeneration chief, welcomed the sale, saying: "It's a clear sign of the progress Wolverhampton's making that a major private equity firm like Benson Elliot should want a stake in the city's future.

"Benson Elliot's purchase of the Mander Centre will bring new opportunities to the city centre – and with them the potential of new jobs and greater prosperity for local people. It also shows that the investment the council and its partners have made in improving public transport links to the city centre and in making it more 'shopper-friendly' has been well worthwhile.

"These are momentous times for our city, with work at the Interchange, i54 and the new Youth Zone seeing a level of activity we haven't known since the 1960s.

"Benson Elliot has great plans for the Mander Centre – and on behalf of the council and all its partners, I'd like to welcome them to a city that is really making it happen."

The acquisition of the Mander Centre builds on Benson Elliot's regional investment programme, which has seen the firm invest more than £1 billion outside of central London over the past few years. As part of this programme Benson Elliot is implementing revitalisation programmes for shopping centres in Ealing, Yeovil and Preston, in each instance working in close collaboration with local councils.

The new Debenhams is expected to create 120 new jobs with the department store due to open not before 2017.