Still no buyer for town's Gateway 'folly'

The Courier, 16 February 2001

The £9 million Gateway Centre which stands as a stark reminder of a failed business scheme on the western edge of St Andrews has yet to find a buyer.

This was confirmed yesterday by Edinburgh-based receivers Grant Thornton who revealed that no sale has yet taken place even though the property has been on the open market for months.

The centre, built to the highest standards on university owned land, was to have provided a home for the St Andrews Golfing Society and for a first port of call and museum for the university itself.

But receivers were called in after an overseas membership drive failed in spectacular fashion. It had been hoped that £1.5 million of memberships for the new society would be sold but the figure reached was just short of £49,000.

In spite of the fact that the building was available for viewing during two of the golf calendars prime events, the Open Golf Championship and the Dunhill, none of the parties who visited have taken their interest to the stage of financial commitment.

The Gateway Centre has been advertised at only £2.5 million, which is a fraction of its original cost of more than £9 million.

The major casualty so far has been Lloyds TSB Scotland, which is due over £5 million, and unsecured creditors will be left with nothing if and when a sale proceeds.

Yesterday Colin Wright, of Grant Thornton, said that another meeting was to take place next week about the future of the centre.

The chairman of the council’s east area development committee, Councillor Frances Melville, said that no one wanted to see a “folly” standing in such a location and it was hoped that a use would be found for the building soon.