'Wolverhampton is a very positive place': Developer behind plan to transform former M&S is upbeat about city and the high street
The developer behind plans to regenerate the former Marks & Spencer store in Wolverhampton city centre says there is plenty of life left in the high street yet.
ALB Group founder and managing director Arran Bailey hopes his plans will breathe new life into the four-storey site at 19 Dudley Street and avoid what he called the "rotting fruit effect" of units sitting empty for too long and negatively affecting those around them.
A planning application is now with the city council and the aim, subject to winning consent, is to create 71 new apartments to rent and three ground-floor commercial units, one of which has already been let in the short term to homeware retailer Home Values.
Many of Nottingham-based ALB's projects focus on taking disused retail space and creating new homes for businesses and residential uses.
Mr Bailey told the Express & Star: "I find regenerating the high street very rewarding, taking something that is unused and making it used. When you bring a tenant into one of your buildings who spends a lot of money there, you know they are dedicated to it.
We give attractive rent deals and rent-free periods to ensure that it's full and that helps them justify spending money in our buildings. If we have three or four units in one building, it's really important to get them all full so they all bounce off each other.
"In the high street, you have the rotting fruit effect. If you have one rotting piece of fruit sitting next to another, it doesn't do it any good."
Mr Bailey, 39, has been working in the property industry for two decades, after purchasing his first buy-to-let terraced house aged just 21.
He has since worked in fields such as lettings and commercial and now focuses mainly on transforming high street units.
Locally, his portfolio of previous projects includes the Castle Court complex of 141 apartments in a former office block in Dudley and Walsall's tallest building - the 14-storey Tameway Tower which was converted into 145 apartments and new offices.
Mr Bailey says he sees plenty of potential other opportunities in Wolverhampton, Birmingham and across the West Midlands.
Elsewhere, ALB's previous projects include apartments and retail units in the historic Bridlesmith Gate in Nottingham, a planned regeneration of the former Pricebusters building at the foot of Blackpool tower and a revamp of Ortongate Shopping Centre in Peterborough.
ALB acquired the Wolverhampton M&S store in March for £3.45 million and the retailer closed its doors there in September after almost a century of trading.
Although no firm details have been revealed, M&S has said it plans to open a new food-led store elsewhere in Wolverhampton, following in the footsteps of its shop in Birmingham which relocated to a new home in the Bullring in 2023.
"It's a massive deal for this building and Wolverhampton because it's a 90,000 sq ft unit and it being empty, with that much frontage onto the high street, does not help any business around it," Mr Bailey added.
"For us, it's a great job. We have the critical mass of being able to do 71 apartments in one place and it's the sort of building we have become accustomed to and bought all over the country.
"We like Wolverhampton. It has a Premier League football club and a great university - we find it a very positive place. We will definitely look at more buildings across the West Midlands."
Looking ahead, Mr Bailey said he was not being put off by the naysayers who continue to talk down UK high street retail.
He added: "Everyone is saying the high street is dying but rents have been re-based so they are more realistic now. If landlords want to succeed with the high street, they have to be more reasonable in what they're expecting in terms of rents.
"I don't think the high street is dead at all - I am positive about it. In Nottingham, we own 28 shops and only one of those is vacant and we have received offers for it.
"I have a lot of faith in our business model and I'm investing heavily in it."
