Park Place (Croydon)

Park Place

Location	Croydon, England
Coordinates	51°22′22″N 0°05′56″W / 51.3729°N 0.0988°W / 51.3729; -0.0988
Opening date	Project abandoned
Developer	Minerva
Owner	Minerva
No. of anchor tenants	2
Total retail floor area	1,080,000 sq ft (100,000 m2)
No. of floors	4

Park Place was a proposed shopping centre which had been expected to open in Croydon, London by 2011. The date was continuously pushed back due to a number of problems between different developers, financial backers and the local council.^[1] It was cancelled in 2009, as other schemes began progress, such as the extension to Centrale and the possible takeover of the Whitgift Centre by Westfield Group. Park Place was part of the Croydon Vision 2020 re-generation scheme.

Park Place has been proposed by developers Minerva and was given planning approval in 2000 by Croydon Council after which the Government Office for London decided not to proceed with a call-in in 2003, despite concerns over traffic and the impact upon existing retail. This decision, ultimately by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, caused controversy in 2006 amidst the Cash for Peerages political scandal, when it emerged that two of Minerva's previous and current chairmen, David Garrard and Andrew Rosenfeld, had made major loans to the Labour Party three months before the decision not to call in the planning application. Prescott denied any wrongdoing.^[2]

In May 2009, Croydon Council announced that it would be ending the development agreement with Minerva following a realisation that they would not be able to secure funding after Lendlease pulled out of the project.^[3]