City council ‘amazed’ by interest from major Chinese companies in Great George Street development – but restaurant boss says it’s important to avoid mistakes of the past
An aerial view of the site on Great George Street(Image: Liverpool Council)
Major interest from China and major Chinese companies is set to breathe life into a transformational regeneration project at a crucial gateway into Liverpool city centre, the ECHO can today reveal. High-powered delegations have met over the New Chinatown project in recent weeks, and hopes are high that several high-profile Chinese companies could use the city as a “launchpad” to break in to the UK market.
Today a key figure in Chinatown’s business scene gave a cautious welcome to the plans, as he called for action to get the project up and running. Liverpool council’s cabinet member for growth and economy Cllr Nick Small was recently in China and told the ECHO that he was “amazed” by the interest in Liverpool, in the city’s historic Chinatown and in the opportunities associated with the major development plan in the area.
Last week, the council’s plans to regenerate its recently-acquired site on Great George Street into what is hoped to be a transformational scheme involving housing, retail and leisure took an important step forward, with real estate investment firm CBRE chosen to help to develop a business case for the site.
Known as New Chinatown, the Great George Street site is a 4.55 acre brownfield plot which lies within Liverpool’s historic Chinatown and close to the Baltic Triangle district, adjacent to Liverpool Cathedral.
Now Cllr Small says it is hoped that a development partner will soon be announced to work on a masterplan for the site, which he says is drawing huge interest from China and major Chinese companies.
He said: “I was in China a couple of weeks ago, there is a real interest there in Great George Street, in Chinatown and in bringing Chinese brands into Liverpool and using this city as a launch pad for those brands.
“We were talking to retailers and brands over in China. We are looking at high quality international brands coming here in terms of leisure, retail and restaurants.
“I have been amazed by some of the interest into New Chinatown from China and across the UK as well. I am really excited about it.”
The New Chinatown development site in Liverpool(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
The development of Great George Street has been stalled since 2017, subject to a series of complex legal challenges and the previous owner’s administration. Plans for a £200m development on the site were unveiled in 2015 but they never came to fruition.
The city council succeeded in the High Court last November to secure the site under its own unified ownership (as the freeholder of the site), clearing the way for new homes and businesses to be constructed.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) supported the council’s approach, with an allocation of £10m funding to complete the purchase and bring forward development options.
Cllr Small said the area – which will soon welcome a new Baltic Train Station – is a vital gateway into both the city’s famous and historic Chinatown, but also the wider city centre – and represents a massive opportunity to improve both.
He said: “What Great George Street is now, with the Baltic Station that is to come, is a gateway into the Baltic, into the city centre.
“So we are looking at new Chinese businesses here in Liverpool and internationally. It is not just about Cantonese restaurants anymore, we have some great restaurants and want them to continue – and to do really well out of this. But we also want to look at bringing new types of businesses in here, we want to look at some of those high quality Chinese brands.
“We are looking at areas like Fintech (financial technology), we think Liverpool can be a launchpad for Chinese companies who want to expand into the UK.”
But of course residential development will also form a key part of the New Chinatown scheme and Cllr Small said there should be big news to announce on that front soon.
He said: “We are also looking at residential and we will have a development partner in place very shortly. We want to work with them to masterplan that area.”
Henry Chiu from North Garden Restaurant at the Chinese Arch on Nelson Street(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
Henry Chiu is the manager of beloved Nelson Street restaurant North Garden, which has been at the heart of Liverpool’s Chinatown for more 35 years.
He said he was cautiously optimistic about what could be achieved at the New Chinatown site, but said the right decisions must be made to avoid the sorts of problems that have led to stalled projects there.
Mr Chiu told the ECHO: “t is so important to get this right because things have obviously gone wrong before. It needs to have the right communication and the right builders involved.
“In China there are people who want to invest outside of China and there are lots of opportunities in places like Liverpool. But we need to make sure their goals correlate with the city’s goals, we need to make sure these investments are creating jobs for local people.”.
He added that the planned arrival of the new Baltic Station means there is ‘more chance for the area to thrive’ and says the area can be a key connection between the historic Chinatown of Nelson Street and areas like Berry Street and Myrtle Parade where new generations of people from China and neighbouring countries are coming to live and work.
He added: “It is important that what is built helps to create a long-lasting community and not just something for a profit margin.”