Sailmakers shopping centre bought for £3.02m

Two bids were made to buy Sailmakers, which is between Tavern Street and the Crown Street bus station

A shopping centre that was put up for auction has been sold for £3.02m.

Sailmakers in Ipswich town centre went under the hammer via an online auction.

The property had been valued at £3m and saw an initial bid of £3.01m before a second bid of £3.02m was placed.

It comes after plans were approved to convert the first and second floors of the centre into flats.

The auction for the centre went live at 11:00 GMT on Allsop's website.

Bidding was due to end at 14:00 and the first bid appeared at 13:49.

The second, final bid was placed at 13:50 before the sale ended.

Sailmakers covers 8,040 sq metres (86,500 sq ft) or floor space and is home to the likes of Boots, River Island, Morrisons, Poundland, HMV and Bodycare.

The centre opened as Tower Ramparts in 1986 and marked its 25th birthday in 2011.

It recently had a mural of Suffolk pop star Ed Sheeran painted on the wall of its upper floor concourse.

It is believed all the units inside the centre will remain unchanged.

Ipswich Borough Council previously approved plans to create 26 new homes above the centre and proposals remain unchanged by the auction.

The development will have 14 one-bedroom flats, six two-bedroom flats and six studios on the upper floors.

Nottingham-based property firm ALB Group bought the centre in 2022.

At the time it said it was "determined to rethink the way High Streets are managed".

ALB has been approached for comment after its sale.