THE future of one of Petersfield's prime shopping sites is in safe hands, according to the company that bought it. Trito Petersfield Ltd announced this week it had finalised a £3 million deal to buy the Homemaker store in The Square. And now the investment company is in negotiations with a major national retailer to put the finishing touches to a possible 15- year lease. Mike Watters, chief executive officer for Trito, has moved to reassure residents that the company is serious about its plans for the property. He said: "There is nothing to worry about, and the site is in safe hands. We are very happy with the site and we obviously like the location. "Trito likes to do deals within contained markets, and in Petersfield there is an up-side of adding value to the site. "We have invested far and wide, and the Petersfield site is just as important to us." Speculation has been rife in the town that fashion retailers Dorothy Perkins would fill the hole left by Homemaker, which closed in April. And although Mr Watters was unable to confirm the identity of the new tenants, he pointed to the company's recent deal to redevelop Newport city centre as proof it means business. He told The Herald: "We took ownership of the site last week and we are in negotiations with a tenant for a 15-year lease. "If we agree the contract we are currently negotiating, it will be excellent for Petersfield and will certainly add to the market strength of the town. "To reassure the people of Petersfield that we are serious, I can confirm we have just secured a big deal for a £200 million redevelopment of Newport city centre in time for the Ryder Cup golf tournament in 2010 - we won the contract after a very competitive bid." Trito Investments Fund Ltd, registered as a professional fund with the Financial Services Authority in the British Virgin Islands, has acquired a 50 per cent stake in the retail and office property in The Square. And last month the company revealed it was in the process of submitting a planning application for the building, which, until recently, was owned by Southern Co- operatives. If the application is successful, the two upper floors of the building could be converted for residential use. If the plans went ahead they would be in line with the neighbouring building, the ground floor of which has now been turned into a Caffé Nero coffee shop. The original Co-op arrived in the Square in 1914. In 1954 the company bought the building next door, and the whole Co-op was redeveloped into the Homemaker store, which was a popular shopping place for generations of East Hampshire people. For most of the last 50 years the Co-op occupied all three floors, with the ground floor used for food and the upper two floors consisting of soft furnishings, furniture and household equipment. More recently the upper floors had been used as offices, which were vacated more than a year ago. Homemaker continued to operate, selling soft furnishings and furniture on the ground floor, until it finally closed down on April 16 with the loss of six jobs. A spokeswoman for Southern Co-operatives said the company's inability to rent the offices above Homemaker had been a factor in its decision to sell. She said: "We decided to sell because the building does not meet our current operational needs. "The Petersfield Homemaker store is the only store of its type operated by Southern Co- operatives Limited, and the store is no longer part of our operational strategy." Mary Vincent is a member of the family business, Rowland Son and Vincent, that operated in a nearby property. A former chairman of the town council planning committee, she hopes the building will not lose its character having changed hands. She said: "It is quite an important building. It is typical of its age in the same way as the town's cinema. "But I am not convinced that Petersfield is big enough to accommodate a large business there."
