Questions have been raised over the future of a supermarket in a “flagship” regeneration area.
Work is already underway to construct a multi-million pound Sainsbury’s in Middlehaven.
But the supermarket giant has now confirmed it is reviewing the planned move - and could potentially remain at its current Wilson Street site.
“The food retail market is extremely competitive and has changed considerably since our proposals for Middlesbrough were first announced,” said a Sainsbury’s spokesperson .
“We are reviewing our plans across a number of supermarket sites, including Middlehaven.
“Once we are in a position to do so, we will update the community on our future plans for the site.”
As reported, Sainsbury’s confirmed it was to relocate from its Wilson Street store to an 80,000sq ft outlet at Middlehaven once the construction work was completed.
According to the developer Terrace Hill, Sainsbury’s wanted to move from its current town centre store so it compete with larger stores.
“The existing Sainsbury’s store is unable to compete effectively with larger stores in the area and Sainsbury’s would like to relocate to an alternative site which can accommodate a modern store which better meets the needs of its customers. Gateway Middlehaven has been identified as the most suitable location,” it said.
But now, the 230 members of staff may not be moving to the new store after all and have been informed of the latest developments.
Constuction work on the Gateway Middlehaven Retail Park project got under way in September last year.
The new 16-acre retail and leisure development, which lies between the A66 and the Riverside Stadium, is a £35m scheme.
Once completed, there would be the supermarket, a nine pump petrol filling station, a drive-through KFC, a Costa coffee and a Marston’s family pub.
The development was expected to open this summer.
The review by Sainsbury’s also raises questions over related plans by Terrace Hill for the Wilson Street site.
It had been planned that the site would be turned into a £20m retail and commercial development with nine retail and leisure outlets, an 80-bed hotel and car park.
This had been expected to open in spring 2016.
Both developments combined had been projected to create 820 new full and part-time jobs.
The Sainsbury’s development is part of the £200m regeneration of Middlehaven.
In 2004 a radical masterplan for the brownfield site was unveiled by renowned architect Will Alsop.
Since then the site has seen the completion of the £70m Middlesbrough College and a number of other multi-million pound projects.
Twenty years ago a bid was made to get consent for an Asda store at the Gateway Middlehaven site. But it failed at the final hurdle when the then Environment Secretary John Prescott refused planning permission.
The Gazette has contacted Terrace Hill for comment but the firm has not yet made a statement.
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