One of the longest-running eyesores on the Altrincham landscape, the former McDonald’s restaurant on Stamford New Road, is finally set to get a makeover with the aim of finding new tenants by the summer.
Altrincham Today can reveal that a planning application to completely refurbish the building – now condemned as wholly unusable nine years after closure – is “imminent”.
The building is part of the Stamford Quarter complex and owned by Lunar, which has finally decided to invest a figure likely to be in the hundreds of thousands in order to bring the site back into use.
The former Pizza Hut restaurant next door, also long closed down, will be included in the redevelopment.
Property consultants Barker Proudlove is currently advertising the site for rent, describing it as being “undoubtedly one of the most prominent within the town centre”. The total floor space within the former McDonald’s is around 4,500 sq ft.
Owners Lunar may well have decided that, in the light of recent public realm improvements on Cross Street, the completion of the new Interchange and the success of the nearby Market House, it now makes more economic sense to try and relaunch the site.
Last year the business rates on the building halved from £67,500 to £33,278 per annum, making it a more attractive site for prospective tenants. The building retains its A3 consent, meaning it can be used by food and drink businesses.
McDonald’s had occupied the corner space for 23 years before closing in 2007, blaming “changes in demand” and the fact the franchise was “just not as busy as it once was”.
