A deal in a day is helping deliver a new retirement home in Sketty.
A 45-apartment complex on Gower Road is a step closer to fruition after Swansea Council completed the sale of its section of the land to McCarthy and Stone in four and a half hours.
The forthcoming new complex between numbers 81 and 89, which will include close to 40 car parking spaces and a courtyard style garden area, has already been granted planning permission. Improvements to the footpath in the area will also form part of the project to generate better links with nearby shops.
Cllr Rob Stewart, Swansea Council Leader, said: “The new retirement home won’t just open up new jobs and benefit the people who will live there – it will also boost local shops and other businesses because of the extra footfall it will generate.
“Our strategic estates and legal departments did a fantastic job in completing the deal for our section of the land so quickly. The offer was received at 8.30am and a contract was in place by 1pm on the same day. This shows how business and investor friendly we are as a council.
“Sales like this are important as we look to make best use of our estate and benefit residents at the same time. This news comes in the wake of similar success stories that will also lead to employment opportunities and improved local amenities for Swansea people.”
The total expenditure generated by residents in the local economy in a typical McCarthy and Stone development is £670,000 per year.
Shane Paull, McCarthy and Stone’s Regional Managing Director for the South West, said: “This project will not only deliver much-needed specialist housing for Sketty, but will also bring additional footfall to Sketty Cross to add to the vitality of the area. Thirty-five people have already registered an interest in buying one of the retirement living apartments, without carrying out any formal marketing of the development. Seventy per cent of those with an early interest live within a 10-mile radius of the site, so it’s clear the proposals will help address the increasing housing need in Sketty.”
Other recent developments include the council selling its freehold interest in the former Alberto Culver site in Llansamlet to the Dr Organic Group as part of a development that will open up more than 100 new jobs in coming years.
The council also recently accepted an offer for land in Penplas that could potentially lead to a new retail and leisure development that will create scores of new jobs in future.
Other recent sales include an historic folly site in Sketty and land at Cefyngyfelach that will help deliver more than 600 new homes, infrastructure improvements and jobs.
The former Manselton Primary School building and the old council transport depot in Clydach are expected to go to auction in coming months.
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