Improvements to a former retail store in Sunderland city centre are set to be made in the hope of attracting food and drink businesses.
Jopling House has been bought by the council in a move it describes as being "vital to ensuring the building contributes positively to city regeneration". The former high street department store, which was converted into student accommodation around five years ago, will be improved at ground floor level with the aim of attracting retail or food and drink businesses.
It is hoped the move will bring "vibrancy at a street level" with improvements set to be made to the external fascia which was left unfinished by the previous owner. The acquisition will allow the council to maintain the current use of the building, after suggestions the building could be sold and repurposed.
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Councillor Kevin Johnston, dynamic city cabinet member at Sunderland City Council, said: “Our residents deserve a city centre they can be proud of, and - wherever we can impact on that - we are delivering. Council-led developments like our City Hall, The Beam and the multi-storey car park at Farringdon Row, are raising the bar in the city centre and, in turn, this pushes others to do the same.
“We cannot buy or develop every single building in the city centre, but what we can do is nurture an environment in which our traders are given the best possible chance of success, by ensuring the right developments move forward and with our plans for Sunniside – which will see the development of a new cluster of creative studio-homes – we want to knit this into the transforming Riverside Sunderland area and ensure the quality of offer in the city centre is as high as possible.”
Jopling House is currently divided into 140 apartments, specifically targeting students looking for accommodation close to campus. It is understood that the site’s previous owners were engaged in discussions that could have seen it move away from student accommodation.
With plans to regenerate Sunniside into a new creative community, the property bridges the centre of Sunderland with the new Riverside Sunderland development, which is gathering pace, with two new grade A offices set to open next year, as well as the Sheepfolds Stables hub and work advancing on a new river crossing for pedestrians.
Cllr Johnston added: “It is important, in the context of our hugely ambitious aims for the city centre, that this site attracts the right kind and level of ongoing investment, to keep pace with the quality of development we are bringing forward elsewhere in the city, and in Sunniside and High Street West.
“We do not plan to make any changes to the use of the building but will look to drive investment that will regenerate its ground floor, creating a vibrant high street that complements the transformation underway on the doorstep. We’re determined that Riverside Sunderland is a stimulus for a whole-city-centre regeneration and that we connect surrounding areas into it.”
