BRIGHTWELLS developer Crest Nicholson has put a £115 million price-tag on its long-awaited regeneration of the East Street area of Farnham town centre.
However, at long-last the developer revealed the estimated £115m total cost of the scheme, in announcing its unconditional contract with Waverley on the London Stock Exchange this week.
For the first time, Crest also valued the scheme’s retail and leisure element - comprising 24 new shops, eight restaurants and a six-screen cinema - at £40m.
The developer added this has already been “pre-sold” to Surrey County Council, ending years of speculation over the scale of Surrey’s stake in the scheme.
The Herald understands Crest will fund the remaining residential element of the development, comprising 239 new apartments, 72 of which will be shared ownership.
The developer has already paid Waverley a one-off capital payment of £3.19m for the lease-hold interest on the land.
Waverley is also in-line to receive a “potential” income of £700,000 to £900,000 per annum from a combination of rental income, business rates and car parking, says Crest.
The development will also refurbish part of the adjoining Sainsbury’s store and car park.
“Detailed planning permission for the scheme has been secured, enabling work to commence in earnest in the summer,” stated the developer’s announcement to the stock exchange.
“The centre, which includes new basement and deck parking for shoppers and residents, is expected to open in late 2021. The first residential dwellings will be occupied in early 2020 and the development will be completed in total by the spring of 2022.”
Crest added the scheme “secures more than £2 million of external investment into the Farnham community” as well as an additional £2 million for highway improvements in central Farnham.
Up to 400 jobs in the construction sector will be created during the construction phase, with a further 400 permanent jobs in the leisure, retail and hospitality sectors once fully complete.
The announcement has also had a positive effect on Crest’s own financial position, with shares in the company up 0.7 per cent on Friday at 489.34 pence each.
It comes after Waverley confirmed it had completed an ‘unconditional’ contract with Crest on Monday last week, allowing construction of the Brightwells scheme to finally commence, some 15 years after the developer won a tender for the development.
Typical of the Brightwells/East Street saga, the news received a mixed response from the community - with particular scrutiny of Surrey’s investment in light of the county council’s widely reported financial challenges.
This was addressed by Surrey’s investment and disposal manager, Peter Hall, in an email to Borellis wine bar owner and member of the Farnham Chamber of Commerce, David Quick, this week.
In his email, seen by the Herald, Mr Hall said: “The council’s investment in the commercial elements of the Brightwells scheme is being undertaken to support the economic development of the town centre and has been made taking into account the risks associated with the scheme, and in consideration of the advice provided by our specialist property advisors CBRE who have provided a continual assessment of the investment in light of the legal documentation process and changing market conditions.
“The investment in the Brightwells scheme is a capital expenditure item which will create an asset on the council’s balance sheet for the future. The investment is affordable since the income that will be received once the development is completed will more than offset the cost of providing the funding with any further net income receivable contributing to the financial sustainability of the council.”
Marks & Spencer’s commitment to the development has also been questioned, with the retailer’s executive office confirming in a letter to West Street resident George Hesse that “no decision has yet been made” on its provision of a new Simply Food store at the centre of the scheme.
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