Sheffield City Council says it has received six “high quality” bids for the refurbishment of the former Cole Brothers department store in the city.
CBRE’s UK development advisory team was appointed to market the opportunity, which forms part of the council’s £470m Heart of the City regeneration scheme, last year.
The 200,000 sq ft five-storey department store opened in 1963 and was acquired by the council from John Lewis in January 2022. It was subsequently listed by Historic England in the summer of that year.
The council said it had received a “very strong response from the market”, with the six bids proposing a range of uses and “delivery solutions that are in keeping with the Heart of the City vision and providing exciting opportunities to bring the building back into use”.
The council added the submissions received were from “experienced developers with strong track records” and that their proposals would be assessed on “economic, social and environmental benefits rather than purely financial, with priority being given to finding the right deliverable solution for the building and the city of Sheffield”.
Terry Fox, leader of Sheffield City Council, said: “This latest development is really pleasing to see and shows a keen interest from developers to work with the council and share in our vision for the regeneration of the city centre – building on the progress already being made in the £470m Heart of the City project. I’m looking forward to the next stage of detailed submissions and seeing how the proposals for this important building can benefit all of Sheffield residents and visitors.”
The council said it would undertake further analysis and discussions with interested parties over the coming weeks and a final decision would be make as soon as possible after the local elections in May.
