Festival site sold in £19.5m deal

Festival Park is set over 75 acres

Plans to expand a shopping park on part of the former Ebbw Vale garden festival site have been announced.

London-based Chester Properties has bought Festival Park shopping village in a £19.5m deal.

The factory outlet centre over 75 acres opened five years after the garden festival in 1992.

The new owner plans to refurbish and extend the centre from its current 41 shops, and said it was in talks with major high street names.

The site has been bought from Eagle One, which has owned it since the centre opened in 1997.

There is considerable scope for refurbishment and further development at the site Tom Tyler, Chester Properties

Tom Tyler, a director of Chester Properties, said it was confident it could help boost ongoing regeneration in the area.

"We are delighted to add Festival Park to our portfolio of retail investments.

"Festival Park has the potential to become one of the leading shopping destinations in Wales and the west.

"There is considerable scope for refurbishment and further development at the site."

The company is also involved in the redevelopment of the Kingsway centre in Newport and has shopping centres in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Walsall and St Albans.

Chester Properties said it was putting the final detail together on the expansion and refurbishment plans and hoped to unveil these, together with some new tenants, over the next few weeks.