Businessman and former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley has reportedly offered to buy a Kent shopping centre.
The 59-year-old’s Frasers Group has been linked to take over Fremlin Walk in Maidstone after it was put on the market for £25 million.
Fremlin Walk opened in March 2005 and boasts a large House of Fraser shop – which is being refurbished to welcome Sports Direct, Frasers and Flannels store in October – as well as other big names such as H&M, Boots, JD Sports and Pandora.
According to The Times, Ashley’s retail company has made an offer for the 350,000 sq ft site to M&G Real Estate, which bought the shopping centre in 2014 for £110m.
Fremlin Walk generates an annual gross income of £4.3m.
M&G acquired Fremlin Walk for £110m from Legal & General Property in November 2014. It was put up for sale with an asking price of £25m.
Last month, Frasers’s chief executive Michael Murray, who is Ashley’s son-in-law, said: “Really, the opportunity for Frasers is to create anchor department stores and shopping centres where Frasers can take a floor which is a lot more productive, say 30,000 to 50,000 square feet, and then we can utilise the other floors for other areas of our business such as Flannels, Sports Direct or the gym business, creating a more productive and meaningful destination for our business.”
Fremlin Walk is described by estate agent Knight Frank as Maidstone’s “prime shopping centre and town’s focal point” and has more than four million visits per year.
Now, the units at the site, which provide more than 350,000 sq ft of space, have been put up for sale.
It comes as the shopping complex is set for the arrival of new brands such as Frasers, Flannels and Sports Direct.
The centre is also the owner of the town’s primary car park which has 760 spaces.
A brochure from the Tunbridge Wells-based estate agents explains Fremlin Walk occupies six acres of the town centre and benefits from a gross income of £4,298,835 per annum and a net income of £2,771,209 after deductions of landlord shortfalls.
It continued: “Maidstone is an attractive Kent town, featuring a mix of independent shops, major retail chains and a variety of bars and restaurants to cater to its residents.
“It is ranked 54th nationally and is one of the top 15 retail locations in the South East.
“The majority of the retail provision is located in or centred around two main shopping centres, Fremlin Walk and The Mall. Fremlin Walk is the focus for multi-facia retail occupiers including H&M, Boots and Frasers (opening later this year) and provides a number of regular-shaped large and medium sized units.”