Wolverhampton Council to hold talks on landmark Beatties building's future
The new leader of Wolverhampton Council says the authority intends to talk to receivers about the future of the empty Beatties building – but said the local authority was unlikely to step in with a rescue package.
Councillor Stephen Simkins, who took over as leader of the council last month, said the decline of the landmark building on the corner of Victoria Street and Darlington Street was a tragedy for the city.
He said the council would offer whatever support it could to a private developer with plans to bring the site back into use, but said it was unlikely that taxpayers' money would be used to fund a major rescue package.
The future of the Art Deco building hangs in the balance after SSYS Beatties, the company set up to redevelop the site, was placed into receivership.
The developer, which bought the building for £3 million, had drawn up plans to convert the upper floors into apartments, with the retail use retained on the ground floor.
But the company collapsed over a debt owed to a money lender.
