{"id":693595,"date":"2026-07-15T20:28:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T20:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/693595\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T20:28:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T20:28:13","slug":"whitgift-centre-freehold-sale-supports-town-centre-regeneration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/693595\/","title":{"rendered":"Whitgift Centre freehold sale supports town centre regeneration"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Whitgift Foundation has sold its freehold ownership of the Whitgift Centre to The Croydon Project<\/a> developer, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW), supporting the ongoing redevelopment of the town centre.<\/p>\n

URW already holds a long lease of the site and this agreement simplifies the ownership structure of the site, which includes the Whitgift Centre, Green Park House and parts of Allders not already owned by URW.<\/p>\n

The North End area will be redeveloped by URW as part of their masterplan framework, which \u00a0will include shops, culture, public spaces and new homes. This latest development follows the revival of the former Allders building and its surrounding parade with new shops and food and drink offerings.<\/p>\n

The new agreement has been welcomed by Executive Mayor of Croydon, Jason Perry, who renewed his commitment to the regeneration of the town centre in his new Business Plan 2026-2030.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jason Perry, Executive Mayor of Croydon,\u00a0said: \u201cWe want to see a town centre that is busy, confident and thriving \u2013 one where people want to visit and spend time. The masterplan for North End is an important part of this vision. This freehold agreement simplifies ownership of the site and helps to smooth the pathway for the redevelopment of the Whitgift site.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the meantime, the Council is continuing to work with our partners to deliver visible change across the town centre \u2013 with \u00a340m of projects, such as in Dingwall Road and Minster Green, improvements to North End\u2019s street scape and an exciting programme of cultural events.\u201d<\/p>\n

The John Whitgift Foundation said the sale of the freehold, totalling \u00a331.5 million, will enable it to focus on its core charitable aims of education and care in Croydon.<\/p>\n

Sixty years ago, the Whitgift site was home to Trinity School, which then moved to Shirley Park. For many decades, income from the site helped fund bursaries for children to attend the Foundation\u2019s schools. It also supported the provision of almshouses in the town centre. This will continue following the sale, as the Foundation consolidates its endowment investments.<\/p>\n

Roisha Hughes, CEO of the John Whitgift Foundation, said: \u201cAs an education and care charity, it\u2019s right that we focus on our schools, almshouses, and care provision. Following URW\u2019s offer to buy the land, which they already lease from us, we have carefully considered what is best for the charity and the town. Simplifying the land ownership in the town centre will positively facilitate the town centre\u2019s regeneration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are confident that the sale will put the Foundation in a very solid position to deliver its core purpose in the decades ahead. Proceeds from the sale will be invested, and the income that is generated will continue to fund our charitable objectives, principally our bursary programme.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam Smith, Strategic Development Director at URW, said: \u201cURW is pleased to complete this purchase which further simplifies the ownership of the Whitgift Centre and Allders site. It is a positive milestone on the path to the transformation of Croydon town centre in partnership with the Mayor of Croydon, Croydon Council and other stakeholders.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Whitgift Foundation has sold its freehold ownership of the Whitgift Centre to The Croydon Project developer, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":693596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[230778,84,59,230779,2168,230780,230781,56,230782,54,55,230783],"class_list":["post-693595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-allders","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-john-whitgift-foundation","tag-regeneration","tag-the-croydon-project","tag-town-centre","tag-uk","tag-unibail-rodamco-westfield","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-whitgift-centre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=693595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/693596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}