In response to the news that UBS Triton has received an offer from Redefine International for the sale of the Spires Shopping Centre and Barnet Market, MP for Chipping Barnet, Theresa Villiers said:
“Whether or not this sale goes ahead, it is imperative that progress continues to be made towards delivering vitally important improvements to the Barnet Market.”
“When UBS’s consultants, Quarterbridge, last year produced plans to re-surface the market, remove dilapidated hoardings and deliver other important new facilities for stall holders, I was delighted. I have continued to push for progress on this.”
“It was a concern that initial planning applications by Quarterbridge would have seen the market squashed into a corner of its current site by a new car park. I am pleased that this has been remedied and that Quarterbridge’s current planning application now provides for the whole site to be used for stalls on market days and as a car park on other days when not required for market purposes. I am supporting that planning application.”
“I spoke earlier this week to Chris White of Strutt & Parker LLP, who is handling the sale of the Spires and the market site for UBS. I explained to him how strongly my constituents feel about securing the future of our historic market. I emphasised how important it is for the planning application to proceed, and for work to start on the improvements UBS announced they were going to carry out.”
“I was concerned to learn from Mr White that the sale process could take as long as 6 months. I took some comfort from the reassurance that UBS did not view the pending sale as a reason to freeze all investment in the Spires and the market site. I will therefore keep up the pressure for work to start on improving the market site as soon as possible, regardless of how fast the proposed sale proceeds.”
The UBS Triton Fund is understood to be under offer to sell the 80,000 sq ft Spires Shopping Centre and Barnet Market for around £32m to Redefine International.