What is Aberdeen City Council doing with its OWN empty Union Street units?

The council owns the vacant Lush and Dizzy's stores on the Granite Mile.

By Denny Andonova

August 26 2024, 6:00 am

Aberdeen City Council owns two buildings on Union Street - both of which are mainly empty. But what are they doing to fill the vacant units? Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson.

Tens of millions of pounds are being ploughed into a modern market aimed at luring people into Aberdeen city centre.

The council purchased the old BHS building and three others surrounding it in their bid to bring the major regeneration project to life.

Work is now progressing on the new indoor food and drink market, linking Union Street with The Green.

But the empty council-owned units alongside it appear to be left in limbo…

So which buildings on Union Street does Aberdeen City Council own?

Contrary to what many might think, the local authority actually owns only four buildings on the Granite Mile (if you include the skeleton of the old BHS).

That’s out of nearly 40 high street properties that currently have vacant units on eye level – some of which are already on the verge of being brought back into use.

The buildings that the council is in charge of are located on both sides of the new food and drink market on Union Street, which is under construction at the moment.

The Aberdeen market site, and Union Street central, will soon be a hive of activity - as it was in summer 2022 when old buildings were knocked down. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson — The old Aberdeen market was demolished in 2022 to make way for the council’s new food and drink complex with outdoor seating area. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson.

City chiefs bought the premises on 81-85, 87-89, 91-93 and 101-103 Union Street a few years ago when they took over the old department store and Aberdeen Market.

An outlier, the 95-99 Union Street home of HSBC is owned by Crystal Beauty Holdings Ltd.

The authority had plans to turn upper floors into a mix of modern apartments, offices and cafes in a bid to set an example for other building owners in the city centre.

How that turned out is another matter, however.

The £50m plans for the former BHS site, a new Aberdeen market. Image: Aberdeen City Council. — This is how the council-owned section of Union Street will look once the £50 million market is built. Image: Aberdeen City Council.

The largely vacant 101-103 Union Street spot has a gift and record shop on the ground floor, but the units in their other property are now lying empty.

They used to house cosmetics experts Lush, which moved to Union Square in 2023, and clothing store Dizzy’s that has been closed since June.

What is happening with the former Lush store on Union Street?

Lush gave up on their high street branch last November, saying the shopping mall offers “much bigger premises” for the popular brand.

Their unit on 81 Union Street has lain empty ever since.

The Union Street Lush store on Union Street before the company moved out. Image: DC Thomson.

How the former cosmetics store on 81 Union Street looks now. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson.

It was yet another blow for the city centre, which has lost staples like Debenhams, Caffe Nero and John Lewis in recent years.

But The Press and Journal now understands a new tenant could soon be moving into the abandoned cosmetics store.

A spokesman for Aberdeen City Council explained it was Lush’s responsibility to find a new taker for the unit as they remain the official lease holders until 2027.

The new Lush store opened in Union Square shortly after the closure of the high street branch. Image: Chris Cromar/DC Thomson.

They have now secured a new operator, subject to council consent by way of sub-lease.

This means that Lush will remain the council’s direct tenant until their lease expires, and the new operator will become a tenant of Lush.

And what about Dizzy’s next door?

Meanwhile, the unit next door has been empty for about two months.

Owner of clothing store Dizzy’s, Lynne McIntyre, decided to call it quits with the high street in June after a rather turbulent first year for her businesses.

Owner Lynne McIntyre inside Dizzy’s just after it had opened its doors in April 2023. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson.

A few months before shutting it down, she told us the store’s future has been thrown into doubt due to the lack of a steady flow of customers.

And she feared the roadworks on Union Street – which kicked off in April as part of the first phase of the city centre revamp – could be the final straw.

Just a few weeks after the central stretch of the Granite Mile was fenced off for the £20 million facelift, Dizzy’s was emptied out and the doors locked.

The store closed just a year after it opened. Image: Isaac Buchan/DC Thomson.

Posters advertising a “70% off” sale appeared in the windows and soon after, the store was fully emptied out. Image: Isaac Buchan/DC Thomson.

It’s unclear whether Ms McIntyre plans to reopen the shop elsewhere, or what the future holds for the vacant unit.

A council spokesman said city leaders are holding off on putting it on the market as Ms McIntyre has been given a grace period to collect her left-over belongings.

In other words, they still have time to come up with an enticing sales pitch to try lure in new takers.

Is the council doing anything with the empty upper floors?

The future of the upper floors in the two council buildings is also up in the air.

Council chiefs had initially hoped to convert the empty storeys of the dingy C-listed structures into homes and offices to bring more people living in the city centre.

But a report in 2022 warned that would cost them millions of pounds.