A £15m cinema and retail park will revitalise Macclesfield town centre.
Cheshire East Council has agreed to sell the Churchill Way car park to Ask Real Estate, who will build a six-screen cinema, restaurants and retail units.
Councillor Don Stockton, Cheshire East Cabinet member in charge of regeneration said: “I am delighted that we are a significant step closer to delivering on our promise to the people of Macclesfield.
“We have said that we will regenerate the town and increase footfall for the benefit of retailers and businesses and this is the start of that process.
“The council remains fully committed to this journey and we will continue to drive forward a strategy to enhance the economic, environmental and social well-being of the town centre.”
The scheme will be subject to the normal planning process, which will start once contracts are exchanged.
Ask Real Estate was chosen following a marketing and assessment process and was one of 19 offers submitted.
Inspirational
Ask Retail Estate is responsible for some of the most inspirational modern buildings that can be seen in and around Manchester and in Sheffield.
Nick Hynes, chair of the Macclesfield Town Centre Vision Stakeholder Panel, said: “I am delighted that we have managed to attract a developer who has put forward a viable and imaginative scheme for the Churchill Way site.
“We had a really healthy level of interest from the development industry and I was impressed by the quality of a number of the submissions. I’d like to thank all those parties involved.
“All this has been achieved over a very short time frame for a scheme of this nature and we are now in a position to press ahead with a much-needed project that will become a new and exciting part of the town centre offer.
“The marketing exercise has illustrated that there is significant demand among developers and leisure operators to locate in Macclesfield. We should grasp this opportunity with both hands.”
