Four firms in race to buy Debenhams on The Moor in Sheffield after it was withdrawn from £5m auction

Three approached owner MHA just before the sale earlier this month. They were in addition to another company which had made an offer of ‘considerable interest’ before the auction, according to Anthony Lorenz, managing director of The Lorenz Consultancy which is acting as asset manager for MHA.

The building was withdrawn on the day it was due to go under the hammer so discussions could continue, he added.

But he did not disclose if there was a timetable or deadline for picking a winner.

The intense interest in the building on The Moor appears to demonstrate the incredible value of ‘pre-app advice’ from Sheffield City Council.

Interest spiked after planners gave the thumbs up to two blocks of flats of up to 34 floors on the site.

The provisional change of use from retail to residential saw it given a guide price at auction of £4.5m-£5m. MHA bought it for £1.5m in March last year.

Debenhams closed on May 15 last year. It was among 118 shut down by administrators with the loss of 12,000 jobs.

The building is on a 99-year lease from September 1965, with 42 years remaining, at a fixed ground rent of £12,500 a year.

It comes as Sheffield City Council officially put another former department store - Cole Brothers - on the market.

The authority bought the building from John Lewis in 2020. It aims to announce a new owner and new use by the end of the summer.

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