Respected trade magazine Property Week is reporting that after almost 14 years of inflicting development blight on Croydon town centre, without ever laying a single brick, Westfield could be about to flog off their interests in south London once and for all, in order to plug a financing hole in another scheme in Hamburg.
Here’s the news: Property Week‘s Westfield report, published last night
Initial suggestions were that Westfield – in the form of Paris-based Unibail Rodamco Westfield – were denying the Property Week story.
That seems curious since the multinational megabillion development company had been approached by the journal before publication and declined to comment.
The Property Week story is based on URW’s own, latest investor report, which says that the Croydon site is “being considered for ‘co-development or future disposal’.”
Any sale of Westfield’s stake in Croydon would come as a hammerblow to the borough’s Mayor Jason Perry, who has staked everything on being able to portray himself as the local politician who delivered the scheme – or at least delivered the third version of its planning permission.
A significant problem for Westfield, in large part thanks to their own commercial indecision and inertia, is that Croydon is not an attractive asset any longer.
Westfield had spent years screwing down the value of the Hammerson bit of their “Croydon Partnership” – the Centrale shopping centre – until the distressed mall operators sold up in 2023. Now, the market has done much the same to Westfield.
Veteran property journalist Peter Bill commented this morning that any Croydon deal “will need to be a bargain basement sale”.
It all suggests yet more uncertainty and delay for what was presented in 2012 as a £1.4billion redevelopment of Croydon town centre that would be delivered in 2017.
Detail-lite: with their Masterplan Framework, all Westfield has said is that they want to build some flats
After being given effective carte blanche by the council’s planning department with their latest “Masterplan Framework” in February this year, a formal planning application was supposed to be submitted by URW by the end of this year.
In interviews with Inside Croydon, senior figures from the site’s freeholders, the Whitgift Foundation, had revealed that any scheme that comes forward would now be residential-based, with 3,000 homes delivered as a private-public partnership, with Westfield bailed out with millions of housing funding from central government and the Greater London Authority.
Property Week reports that Westfield “is considering selling its Croydon development site following a £448million overspend at its Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier development”.
They report: “The firm’s masterplan to transform Croydon town centre, including the Whitgift and Centrale shopping centres, into a mixed-use destination was unveiled last November. However, it is now looking increasingly unlikely URW will be able to deliver the plans alone.”
Hamburg is to get something very much like what Westfield first promised for Croydon (though without the cruise ship terminal), with “170 stores, 40 restaurants and bars, an art museum, three hotels and a cruise ship terminal when complete”, with the price tag now at £1.86billion.
“URW now needs to complete €2.2billion (£1.9billion) of disposals across this year and early 2026 as a result of its capital allocation strategy, with €1billion (£860million) of sales already secured, the firm told investors at its most recent investor day,” Property Week reports.
URW investors were told that the company would now have “a focus on improving existing assets and an aversion to taking on ‘direct construction risk on large-scale development projects’.” It is all very much like 2020, when URW removed Croydon from its development “pipeline” altogether.
“The firm will lack cash to develop the Croydon masterplan without major capital recycling, opening the possibility of the site being sold to cover the overspend at Hamburg, a source told Property Week.”
The magazine quotes an unnamed source: “URW needs to crystalise value, and the Croydon site could provide that while putting off potential future development costs…
“Opportunities are being presented to market across the portfolio, and Croydon could be in play.”
Read more: Perry’s council endorses scheme for 3,000 flats in town centre
Read more: ‘It has to be’: Westfield scheme needs millions of public money
Read more: The Masterplan has just one aim, to make money for Westfield
Read more: Westfield boss says Croydon scheme could take 15 more years
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They should sell to the Battersea consortium. They made so much money from the successful Power Station development – buying the Croydon site should be loose change to them. They are doers who don’t string people along like Westfield.
The only problem is dealing with Croydon Council.
If we want a fresh start in the town centre, then we need a fresh start at Croydon Council as well.
Really. They are not the developer of Battersea. This is a Malaysian developement. URW have a interest in the retail as a tenant and operator of commercial space. So your comment is inaccurate and in the realms of fantasy. Might be able to apply to Stratford and Shepherds Bush, but do they really want to give at profitable ventures to try and keep a turkey alive.
I doubt even the summer kiosks are even going to turn up now. What a disaster for the politicians who have invested so much of the Council’s resources into this. They have been wrong-headed from the start in being in thrall and gullible to the promises of private developers, who have walked all over them.
How much of the success though was the retail offer vs that of the ultra-high-margin apartments?
With a highly desirable location like BPS you can charge many times over the build cost for the flats, and then have a captive audience of rich residents with money to spend in your retail offer. Hard to think of an easier way to make money for someone with the capital and organisational muscle to pull it off.
“The home of Krept & Konan and Stormzy” might be a slightly more difficult sell – I don’t doubt there’s demand for flats, restaurants and shops but it’s not the easy money printing machine of Battersea. That said, when the Floyd flew a pig over Battersea in ’77, the place was on its way to dereliction and ruin, it only took 40 years to turn it around. So maybe don’t hold your breath.
Angus, Battersea was a cesspit not so long a ago. I could hear gunshots back in 2000. Now , it is unrecognizable for good reasons. The architecture around the station is insanely creative unlike Croydon’s grey breezeblock cuboid buildings.
My point is, it’s all about leadership . With a good capable leader you can turn shit into gold.
There were a large number of developers at Nine Elms/Battersea.
One of the key developers was R&F who also bought the Nestle St George’s Walk site.
R&F sold their Nine Elms site when facing financial challenges.
It gives me no pleasure to post this. Following on from my post a couple of months ago about the need to first ‘regain credibility’ clearly that ship has sailed. Any cursory visit to the remains of the centre now confirms that credibility is beyond reach. For that reason alone I support the notion of bailing out and letting a new operator approach the opportunity with new eyes.
There is obviously no chance of our ‘mayor’ being able to reverse the rot so handing over is probably best plan. The nature of the contemporary retail challenges must be addressed and understood by a new owner. The issue of the split site must be reviewed with no pre-conditions. The price will obviously be in the ‘fire sale’ region but must not be blocked by the embarrassment of the current owners. The council must accept that ‘insincere consultation’ is no alternative to ‘well considered proposals’ with a ‘high quality public awareness campaign’ to build public support through accurate ‘expectation management’.
Many UK towns and communities with less resources and experience than Croydon have realised this. Some new initiatives are gathering support and garnering interest. Property Week knows this too. All developers know that they have to ‘take a bath’ on badly conceived proposals from time to time. The Croydon Centre rebirth project will not be the first, nor sadly the last, where the skill, wit and imagination of the incumbent team is woefully inadequate to meet the difficulty of the challenge.
Incidentally, much as I admire the restoration of the Surrey Street Drinking Fountain, most particularly the quality and fine detailing evident in the near finished result. I can not get the haunting phrase that ‘Nero fiddled whist Rome burned’ out of my head.
Good luck and God speed to all involved. This is the beginning of a new approach to an old problem. Hopefully some exciting, young, intelligent group will emerge from the ashes!
Vote Green, you mean?
Piss poor perry council as not got a penny to chip in,it owes Croydon people to dish shares out on what they have spend already we own the council its our money i believe it needs a refurbish and more pop up new business’s arts and crafts,and a very large art centre, restaurants small local retailers, no vapes, fry chicken-shops, phone shops, and more hand made products and above all have a ban on all school kids, and maybe have a membership to join the Croydon public consortium. They would convert your purchases into points to spend in stores within the company we own.
All sounding good until the unwarranted dig at chicken shops (not my thing either for the most part but they’re popular and fill a need).. and school kids? Sorry, but that is 180 degrees the wrong attitude. Give them something to DO like at Gravity Wandsworth. The kids here are fine, they’re just bored and don’t have much money. “The devil makes work for idle hands”, as they used to say, the faces have changed but human nature has not. Affordable gym and leisure. Bowling. Cinema. VR zone. Libraries, galleries, culture. It’s not only stuff to do, it’s jobs as well for the older ones. And when they’ve finished an afternoon of that they’ll be hungry, so I guess we need that chicken shop after all. Junior, junior, Junior Spesh!
Croydon gets three distinct mentions in URW’s 2025-2028 business plan, “A Platform for Growth”, that was unveiled in May.
The first is when they talk about Land Banking, and Entitlements and zoning of existing land plots for co-development or future disposal — E.g. Croydon (London), Westfield Milan.
They then outline their “highly disciplined capital allocation”, and refer to the Croydon site “as a land developer”.
Finally they have a section on “Unlocking value from URW’s landbank”. For us that means that, along with Milan, we are going to be “revisited and right-sized”. That will happen by flexible master-planning with limited interdependence between programs, a land developer approach on large scale mixed-use developments and an asset-light strategy through JV partnership or straight disposal.
What does this mean?
Well, it suggests that URW is now going to design their Croydon site so that retail, housing and public spaces will be developed independently on a phased basis, not as one monolithic project. URW will act as master developers, focusing on site preparation, planning and infrastructure, potentially selling plots to other developers.
That is, if they don’t go for disposal sooner rather than later. In other words, dumping us.
One thing is for sure. URW isn’t going to build and operate a mega-mall in Croydon
URW’s 2025-2028 business plan, “A Platform for Growth”, was unveiled in May, but unravelled in July ?!.
Awww, Jim. It’s the only language that speculators and the markets understand. Make decent profits, but only the same as the previous year, and your share price wobbles, at best.
So developers will always talk about “growth”, even when they really mean sensible, prudent consolidation.
Westfield Croydon Holdings Limited last accounts show they are operating on a £89m shareholder deficit and losing millions every year (lost £9.2m in 2023 and £35m in 2022). In the long term this is unsustainable and the best alternative is to sell off even without the excuse of the Hamburg overspend.Scott Parsons had already left the board in January ( Termination of appointment of Scott Cameron Parsons as a director on 27 January 2025) and I’m pretty sure the Whitgift Foundations new CEO, Croydon Council and Mayor Perry know exactly what is going on. I mean it is impossible not to. Those 7 kiosks you mention are just a show to appease the public . Those mentioned need to give a statement ASAP because frankly the public been lied to over what is going on. Lies upon lies upon lies, this is truly sad.
I am interested in Arfur (really!) reply. This is important info and in many ways sets out the ‘new start’ opportunities I alluded to above. These guys might just get it sorted but their ‘client’ must surely be sacked and replaced ASAP. The council would do well to declare this an emergency matter for cross-party agreement. There are a number of ‘Surveyor based expert consultancies’ that could/should be engaged to represent the people of Croydon.
Only problem with that, Ted, is that the Mayor and his CEO are far too busy trying to save their own arses…
Croydon’s council and MPs have all, for far too long, been craven flag-wavers for Westfield, instead of acting as they should, as critical friends. It is a form of corporate Stockholm Syndrome, and it is likely to take many years to recover.
Surely even Perry, Philp, Barwell, (is there anyone worth mentioning from Labour), Whitgift Foundation and the whole Croydon political establishment read this clear headed analysis and accept their complete and utter disastrous failure that has left Croydon in such a ruinous state. We are effectively all the way back to square one after all the investment of time, energy and resources wasted over decades.
Its just a shame that Perry Kerswell and the whole merry band view this as just a local blogger and all of the comments and articles contained therein are baseless and factually inaccurate. Instead of doing what they should and engaging with the community and opening themselves up to scrutiny and criticism. But then I guess Croydon has never had a CEO with enough conviction to do that
It has had a couple of CEOs who were lucky not to get convictions… As for the current one, she was found out long ago, and is now on borrowed time.
Property Week respected? Says who? It’s a trade mag for estate agents and developers whose only motive is profit. Oh, and making a quick buck. Not the kind of friendly medium read by Inside Croydon types with a social conscience.
You try hard to be a contrarian, but you only make it as far as the first syllable