Merseyside shopping centre Cavendish Walk sold to Rugby Property Assets for £1.5m

Rugby Property Assets has acquired the freehold for 73, 000 sq ft of Cavendish Walk shopping centre in merseyside, paying £1. 5m in a deal that completed late last year. The purchase builds on a council-controlled stake and ties the site into a wider £200m regeneration programme now moving toward planning and delivery.

Merseyside sale and asset details

The 100, 000 sq ft retail complex sits over two levels off Derby Road and produces gross rental income of £413, 000 a year. The portion acquired by Rugby Property Assets comprises 73, 000 sq ft; the remaining 27, 000 sq ft of the centre was acquired by Knowsley Council in 2024. The facility includes 21 retail units and a 70-space basement car park.

Details of the merseyside purchase

Cavendish Walk was purchased from receivers appointed under the Law of Property Act after the previous Jersey-based landowner entered administration. The freehold transfer completed late last year; the asset had been offered through receivership prior to the sale. Professional advisers were engaged on both sides of the transaction.

Regeneration plans and next steps

The sale comes as the shopping centre forms a key part of a proposed Huyton Village Centre Masterplan that is set to deliver £200m of investment. The scheme, titled St Michael’s Place, is designed to transform the retail complex into a community hub and to deliver a new council headquarters of 91, 000 sq ft and a 130-bed hotel. Longer-term proposals include up to 420 homes and a 400-space mobility hub. Planning permission for elements of the scheme was submitted last autumn.

A nearly four-acre site off Ditton Lane will remain in council ownership while the local authority explores options for preserving it as a wetland habitat. Those land-use decisions are being considered alongside the masterplan’s wider redevelopment proposals for the town centre.

Immediate implications and outlook

The centre’s current rental income and unit mix give the new owner an operational retail asset while the council’s retained portion and the masterplan proposals create a pathway for large-scale change. With planning permission already submitted for parts of the St Michael’s Place project, the next observable milestones will be planning decisions and any subsequent construction start dates tied to the masterplan delivery schedule.

If the planning process advances as outlined, the combination of a council headquarters, hotel provision and residential delivery would materially change the centre’s role in the town centre and could alter the asset’s income profile over time. Separately, retention of the Ditton Lane site for potential wetland habitat links environmental land-use choices to the broader regeneration programme.

Key takeaways

• Rugby Property Assets paid £1. 5m for 73, 000 sq ft of Cavendish Walk; the centre totals 100, 000 sq ft.
• The complex generates £413, 000 in gross rental income and includes 21 units and a 70-space basement car park.
• The site is integrated into a £200m masterplan (St Michael’s Place) that has submitted planning permission and proposes major civic, hotel and residential elements.