A mothballed seven floor town centre block that had become “an eyesore” after being abandoned half finished several years ago has finally been sold.

The building on Great Moor Street in Bolton had been meant to house 140 students but was abandoned in 2018 after funds ran out, with “significant damage” done in the meantime.

But now the building has finally been sold to Blackburn based EP Properties, a move town hall leaders hope could finally lead to action being taken on the empty building.

Bolton Council deputy leader Cllr Akhtar Zaman said: “We have been very, very concerned about the building, which is in our town centre, for some time now.

“It had turned into a bit of an eyesore so it was very welcome news that there were buyers interested in it and its now welcome news that a sale has gone through.”

The Bolton News: The site has finally been soldThe site has finally been sold (Image: Newsquest)

He added: “We’ll wait and see what the new owners’ plans will be for the building but hopefully it will mean some progress in dealing with this eyesore in our town centre.”

The block has been sold by liquidators BDO and Moore Kingston Smith to EP Properties for an undisclosed sum with the help of advisory firm Watling Real Estate.

The student block had originally been meant to house 140 students in “world class facilities” when building work began on derelict land near The Balmoral pub in 2016.

This was meant to include 119 “pods” and 21 studio flats, as well as a gymnasium, reception area, communal kitchens, laundry rooms and landscaped gardens.

But work came to a sudden stop in 2018 when developers Collateral folded, leaving the site abandoned ever since.

In April 2019 Bolton Council said it was investigating what could be done and in October last year Cllr Zaman told a full meeting of the council that possible buyers had been found.

At the time Cllr Zaman, who sits as the council’s cabinet member for regeneration, said that the prospective buyers hoped to use the site in accordance with the original plans.

Watling Real Estate had appointed fixed charge receivers Chris Walker and Andrew Foster to help sell the site.

This was held up because of legal complexities, but they were finally able to finish the sale to EP Properties after a “collaborative court process” between the liquidators and receivers.

Mr Walker said: “The development originally stalled in the summer of 2018 following the lender going into administration and the developer going into liquidation.

“The block suffered significant damage before receivers were appointed and has remained mothballed ever since.”

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He added: “This was a complex sale involving a disparate group of investors to an insolvent peer-to-peer lending platform which brought its own unique challenges, but with support from the restructuring team at solicitors Stevens & Bolton, a successful court application enabled a sale to be successfully completed.

“The buyer’s intentions are yet to be confirmed but may involve a build-out of the original proposals or a variation of them. 

“This is an exciting opportunity for EP Properties, and we wish the team well in bringing this prominent site back into use and contributing to the success and regeneration of Bolton town centre.

“This has been a very good outcome considering the complexities and is part of a great start to the New Year at Watling Real Estate.

“We have a number of further sales completions in the coming weeks in what has been a very busy start to 2024.”