Seacourt Tower and retail park 'for sale for £65m'

Commercial property experts CoStar Group is reporting that bidding is expected to be strong after owners British Airways Pension Trustees put the 11-acre site, comprising 80,000 sq ft of retail and 90,000 sq ft of offices, up for sale, seeking £65m.

London-based commercial property agents Morgan Williams are handling the sale.

Retail businesses who are listed as tenants are Dreams, Sports Direct, Decathlon and Homebase.

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DIY store Homebase closed last year and it is understood that B&Q wanted to occupy the site.

While B&Q expressed an interest there was disappointment when Marks & Spencer scrapped a plan to open a foodhall on the site.

Originally, the large unit vacated by Homebase was going to be split into five separate shops, one of which was going to be filled by M&S.

But according to plans submitted to Vale of White Horse District Council the single larger unit will be upgraded with minimal alterations to bring it in line with the look of neighbouring shops including Decathlon, Sports Direct and Dreams.

There was disappointment in August 2018 when M&S announced it was abandoning its plans.

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A spokesman for M&S said at the time: “We’re committed to transforming M&S for our customers and making sure we have the right offer in the right locations.

“Last year we announced the reassessment and reduction of our Simply Food opening programme, as part of this we are no longer considering a store in Seacourt Tower Retail Park.

“We remain committed to serving customers through our city centre store and other locations across Oxford.”

Early in 2018 the petrol station was removed after many years of serving customers and a Costa drive-through was created.

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According to Morgan Williams’ marketing documents for the site the weekday parking spaces provision is 386 spaces, with additional weekend provision of 78 spaces.

Work is continuing on building a new shopping centre a short distance away at West Way, offering a further 14,000 sq ft of shops, restaurants and cafes.

West Way Square is due to open in the summer of 2020.

According to developer it has been designed to ‘reinvigorate the local centre’s character and surrounding area’.

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The website added: “The central public piazza with restaurants and cafes will provide an attractive focal point for residents, visitors, shoppers and the local community. When completed, West Way Square will complement the charm of this bustling West Oxford neighbourhood.”