TWO Ayrshire businessmen have teamed up on a project to bring back to life a shopping location in Galston, which used to house a Co-op store.
Gareth Downie, MD of Downie Capital, and Paul McIvor, MD of AQS Ltd, aim to transform the 19,000 sq ft former Co-op outlet in East Ayrshire.
Subject to planning permission which was submitted in mid-September, the project, run by Downie and McIvor Capital Ltd, will see the opening of a new Farm foods.
The proposed development will be called Loudoun Retail Park and is tipped to provide a ‘huge boost’ for retail diversity in the town. The development plans to incorporate eight Ultra rapid EV parking bays, hosted by Swarco.
Gareth Downie, a chartered accountant with a variety of business interests including property and development projects, said, “It will be great to be able to bring this building back to life and, more importantly, create a significant number of jobs within quality national retailers, re-establishing an important retail hub for the area. Paul and I both grew up in the Irvine Valley and I attended Loudoun Academy, just 500 metres from the site, and would go to the Co-op for my lunch. The Co-op closed in 2018 and had lain empty for six years until we purchased it.
“Farmfoods is taking 11,000 sq ft of space and another 5,000 sq ft available which can be divided into three retail units and we’ve already had interest in these from a number of national retailers. There will be an additional 2,500 sq ft of office space at Loudoun Retail Park. We will also be using local contractors for all constructions works and expect to create more than 60 long term jobs.”
Downie and McIvor expressed their appreciation of the input of East Ayrshire Council, which, they said, has been highly supportive of the project.
Gareth Downie added, “Galston may be a relatively small town, but its catchment area is much wider and there is a huge amount of passing traffic at Loudoun Retail Park – our analysis showed 24,000 daily car movements. We have 100 parking bays on our site, with a branch of Screwfix and Tesco adjacent to our site. Another benefit of the parking spaces available is the potential for click-and-collect and food delivery opportunities in the future to serve the rest of Irvine Valley.”
