Plans to transform the famous Heaps Rice Mill in Liverpool are at a standstill, with the city council now considering taking action against the famous site's owner, BusinessLive can reveal.
London-based Quarryman Investments took full ownership of the site in 2020, and earlier this year, missed a council-set deadline to start work.
The mill, which has been twice owned and sold by the Elliot Group, remains derelict - and its current owner, Anthony Maxwell-Jones, said the delays are due to funding problems as a direct result of the pandemic.
He called it a “fantastic” site - and said he will work with the council to “collectively do the right thing”.
The Grade II-listed building on the edge of the Baltic Triangle has been empty since 2005 - and has had planning permission to be converted into apartments since 2014.
Previously used by Joseph Heap & Sons Ltd - which once ground rice for Kellogg’s Rice Krispies - it’s one of the earliest and last surviving warehouse complexes in the area and is hoped to be in part restored and re-used as residential units.
In 2015, it was by the Elliot Group to a developer called Inhabit for £130m, but no construction work followed.
Concerns were later raised over its , with trees seen growing out of the upper levels due to long-term neglect.
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Just three years after the sale, in a joint venture with Mr Maxwell-Jones' investment firm Valorem, the Elliot Group bought it back, raising hopes that work at the ‘One Park Lane’ site, which had a gross development value of £170m, could soon start.
At the time, the development was hoped to comprise four new blocks plus the listed Heaps Rice Mill, based around a new public square surrounded by 781 apartments and 12,000 square feet of ground floor restaurant and retail units.
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The Elliot Group it wanted to begin work by the end of that year, and that planning permission remained in force after work was started by Inhabit.
However, work failed to restart, and in January last year, Mr Maxwell-Jones and his business Quarryman Investments (Holdings) Ltd took full ownership of the site.
The buyout came just weeks after Elliot Lawless was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud, bribery and corruption in December 2019. He denies all wrongdoing and has successfully challenged the legality of warrants used by police to search his home and offices.
When contacted by BusinessLive, the Elliot Group declined to comment.
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The grounds at Heaps Rice Mill are currently being used as a car park.
Quarryman said it has since received permission from the council to amend the original application, with plans now set to comprise 600 residential units and a hotel featuring 260 rooms.
According to Mr Maxwell-Jones, he would love “nothing more” than to start work at the mill, but he said various funding agreements that were previously in place had been removed.
According to Liverpool City Cllr Sarah Doyle, the local authority’s planning department has been in discussions with the London-based company “for the best part of a year”.
She told BusinessLive: “I would like to see immediate work happen on the site as to prevent any more decay of the building.
“I would also like to see some part of the site dedicated to a community space for local people in the Baltic area, waterfront and L1 area to use.
“Beyond that, I believe the site will probably end up as apartments and it would be welcome to see developers adopting truly affordable rent in the apartments they let out.”
According to Riverside ward Cllr Doyle, the authority believed that “essential repair works” should have been carried out at the mill by March of this year.
The works would have meant the planning permission and listed building consent would remain valid for the conversion of the listed Heaps Rice Mill - and construction of new residential blocks.
However, last month, the new owners’ planning agent told the council those works would not be carried out due to Covid delays and funding being pulled.
Cllr Doyle, who has just been appointed the new cabinet member for development and economy, added: “Following this update, the council have made the owners aware of our disappointment that works are no longer to commence, securing the long-term preservation of the listed building.
“Furthermore, we have advised the owners that as a result of this we will once more have to review/consider the possibility of enforcement action.”
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As well as granting planning permission, councils have the authority to take action against breaches. It’s not known what action the city council is considering.
She said that although the delay of works is “regrettable”, the owners employ a structural engineering company to monitor the condition of the listed building.
She added: “We have been informed that the structural condition remains similar to previous assessments.”
Speaking to BusinessLive, Mr Maxwell-Jones said: “I would love nothing more than to start the works on the mill and restore it and the wider development. It’s got the potential to be a fantastic scheme.
“We had a development funding agreement with an institution which would have started all of the construction. Then as Covid hit, the institution got gated. They couldn't fund anything, and it remains gated.”
He said his firm then attempted to find funding over the next 18 months and got close with offers, which were later withdrawn by investment committees.
Mr Maxwell-Jones said: “Signing off on hotel funding whilst in a lockdown has been impossible.
“There haven't been any hotels throughout the 海角视频 that have been funded during Covid.
So that's very challenging and without that, it's very hard to also raise the funding for the regeneration of the mill, because that's the catalyst to the development.”
He said a separate private equity fund was due to complete on the purchase of the residential area surrounding the mill - but that fell through in December last year.
Getting bank funding has also been “impossible” due to the pandemic, he said.
He added: “It all comes down to the funding market, which is basically stalled because of Covid.
“My shareholders and I have got a lot of money invested in the site, so I would love nothing more than to start the development and get on with it.
“I appreciate that Liverpool [council] needs to protect the mill and do what they need to do. But I can only do what I can.”
Mr Maxwell-Jones could not put a date on when works may start, but said: “I hope that the market comes back during the summer, as the vaccine rollout progresses and lockdowns are eased, that will provide confidence to the market to fund the hotel.
“It's just very difficult. Whilst legally you can't travel or stay in a hotel, trying to get someone to write out a big cheque for a hotel development is virtually impossible.”