Is Merchants Quay silting up before it even opens?

We've already expressed concern about the proposed development known as Merchants Quay.
At the moment, it is just a gleam in the eye of the developer - Modus Properties of Manchester.
The Modus website continues to maintain that it will be open for business in 2012 - three years away - but the news that the department store Debenhams has pulled out of the scheme is possibly more of a blow than is being admitted.
Modus has told the local press only that talks with one of the "key occupiers" of the project have been put "on hold."
Meanwhile, the borough's assistant Chief Executive Steve Lumb is quoted as saying that discussions with retailers are at a "very early stage," and retailers will be considering all the options.
He is also saying that the council is working with Modus to ensure a scheme comes forward "as quickly as possible" .... which seems to hint that this might no longer mean 2012.
But, if completion of the development is a scant three years away, we would not call this an "early stage."
And rather worryingly, Modus seems to be a company that puts its all eggs in the same basket.
It currently lists eleven proposed locations where it plans urban regeneration.
Seven are clearly more advanced than the other five, because rather than hinting at jam tomorrow in the form of big names coming to town, Modus lists some of the shops that will be taking space in their developments.
And all of the seven - Wigan, Blackpool, Newport, Swindon, Crewe, Coventry and Wakefield - specify without exception that the "anchor" store for the project will be Debenhams.
Modus is now in the position have having to find an alternative anchor - and we are sure that most of the other likely names are probably already in bed with other developers.
Congratulations to Councillor Raymond Singleton-McGuire for disclosing the withdrawal of Debenhams.
He is also right when he calls on the council to save rather than spend.

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