r/Glasgow Tools

Title
Author	Scunnered20
Comment	I raised this point in another thread about other redevelopment plans recently: the council doesn't own every site & decide on every bit of planning in the city. It's not a top down approach. Development plans come and go depending on the whims of specific landowners. The site of Buchanan Galleries is owned privately, and the owners have reached the conclusion that the structure in its current form isn't a money spinner for them any more, not in the medium to longer term. Build-to-rent property is quickly becoming a surer bet for returns for landowners than a bulking mass of retail units which are become harder and harder to find tenants for. It's something that's happening in other cities across the world too, with privately owned shopping centres being transformed in one degree or another to homes, mixed use retail / hospitality hot spots, etc. Anything to keep the site more viable in the longer term for the owners. The big benefits of the Buchanan Galleries plan will be: * Injecting a huge number of residents into the city centre, which can only help support other nearby on-street retail and make the city a more welcoming, inviting, successful place. * It removes a couple of significant physical (and consequently mental) barriers between parts of that corner of the city. North Hanover Street is going to become the main avenue in and out of the city from the new Sighthill estate, and lots more medium density housing is planned in that industrial area around Townhead too. At the moment Buchanan Galleries and the car park structures block easy access to Buchanan Street and other nearby streets. It also is in the way between Queen Street and the bus station. Reconfiguring the site will allow for much better connections between things on either side of it.
Reddit Link	https://www.reddit.com/r/glasgow/comments/x97yua/buchanan_galleries_demolition_first_look_at_how/inp30sy/
Created	Fri 9th Sep 2022 7:44am
Status	normal ()

I raised this point in another thread about other redevelopment plans recently: the council doesn't own every site & decide on every bit of planning in the city.

It's not a top down approach. Development plans come and go depending on the whims of specific landowners.

The site of Buchanan Galleries is owned privately, and the owners have reached the conclusion that the structure in its current form isn't a money spinner for them any more, not in the medium to longer term.

Build-to-rent property is quickly becoming a surer bet for returns for landowners than a bulking mass of retail units which are become harder and harder to find tenants for. It's something that's happening in other cities across the world too, with privately owned shopping centres being transformed in one degree or another to homes, mixed use retail / hospitality hot spots, etc. Anything to keep the site more viable in the longer term for the owners.

The big benefits of the Buchanan Galleries plan will be:

* Injecting a huge number of residents into the city centre, which can only help support other nearby on-street retail and make the city a more welcoming, inviting, successful place.

* It removes a couple of significant physical (and consequently mental) barriers between parts of that corner of the city. North Hanover Street is going to become the main avenue in and out of the city from the new Sighthill estate, and lots more medium density housing is planned in that industrial area around Townhead too. At the moment Buchanan Galleries and the car park structures block easy access to Buchanan Street and other nearby streets. It also is in the way between Queen Street and the bus station. Reconfiguring the site will allow for much better connections between things on either side of it.