Tens of millions of pounds are being ploughed into a modern market aimed at luring people into Aberdeen city centre. The council purchased the old BHS building and three others surrounding it in their bid to bring the major regeneration project to life. Work is now progressing on the new indoor food and drink market, linking Union Street with The Green.
But the empty council-owned units alongside it appear to be left in limbo...
So which buildings on Union Street does Aberdeen City Council own? Contrary to what many might think, the local authority actually owns only four buildings on the Granite Mile (if you include the skeleton of the old BHS). That’s out of nearly 40 high street properties that currently have vacant units on eye level – some of which are already on the verge of being brought back into use. The buildings that the council is in charge of are located on both sides of the new food and drink market on Union Street, which is under construction at the moment.
City chiefs bought the premises on 81-85, 87-89, 91-93 and 101-103 Union Street a few years ago when they took over the old department store and Aberdeen Market. An outlier, the 95-99 Union Street home of HSBC is owned by Crystal Beauty Holdings Ltd. The authority had plans to turn upper floors into a mix of modern apartments, offices and cafes in a bid to set an example for other building owners in the city centre.
How that turned out is another matter, however. The largely vacant 101-103 Union Street spot has a gift and record shop on the ground floor, but the units in their other property are now lying empty. They used to house cosmetics experts Lush, which , and clothing store .
What is happening with the former Lush store on Union Street? Lush gave up on their high street branch last November, saying the shopping mall offers “much bigger premises” for the popular brand. Their unit on 81 Union Street has lain empty ever since. It was yet another blow for the city centre, which has lost staples like Debenhams, Caffe Nero and John Lewis in recent years.
But The Press and Journal now understands a new tenant could soon be moving into the abandoned cosmetics store. A spokesman for Aberdeen City Council explained it was Lush’s responsibility to find a new taker for the unit as they remain the official lease holders until 2027. They have now secured a new operator, subject to council consent by way of sub-lease.
This means that Lush will remain the council’s direct tenant until their lease expires, and the new operator will become a tenant of Lush. And what about Dizzy’s next door? Meanwhile, the unit next door has been empty for about two months. Owner of clothing store Dizzy’s, Lynne McIntyre, decided to call it quits with the high street in June after a rather turbulent first year for her businesses.
A few months before shutting it down, she told us the store’s future has been thrown into doubt due to the lack of a steady flow of customers. And she feared the roadworks on Union Street – which kicked off in April as part of the first phase of the city centre revamp – could be the final straw. Just a few weeks after the central stretch of the Granite Mile was fenced off for the £20 million facelift, Dizzy’s was emptied out and the doors locked.
It’s unclear whether Ms McIntyre plans to reopen the shop elsewhere, or what the future holds for the vacant unit. A council spokesman said city leaders are holding off on putting it on the market as Ms McIntyre has been given a grace period to collect her left-over belongings. In other words, they still have time to come up with an enticing sales pitch to try lure in new takers.
Is the council doing anything with the empty upper floors? The future of the upper floors in the two council buildings is also up in the air. Council chiefs had initially hoped to convert the empty storeys of the dingy C-listed structures into homes and offices to bring more people living in the city centre. But a report in 2022 warned that would cost them millions of pounds.
Previous owner Rockspring had similar ideas, and secured planning permission to turn 101-103 Union Street site into flats in 2019. However, the scheme never made it off the ground “due to lack of market demand, and their plans to dispose of the site”. Earlier this year, council leaders also decided to put the project on the backburner amid soaring construction costs.
And a says this is expected to remain the case for some time. The upper floors are currently used as “vacant storage accommodation”. You can find out who owns all of the buildings with vacant units on Union Street.
