A TOWN centre shopping mall threatened with partial demolition is to be sold for £45.1m.

The 347,000sq ft Castlegate Shopping Centre Stockton High Street will be bought by Lathe Investments.

The centre, built in the early 1970s, was bought for about £30m in 1999 by London-based Quintain Estates.

However, since then, the rival Wellington Square shopping centre has opened in the town, and the adjoining Swallow Hotel and part of the Castlegate Centre could be destroyed as part of £80m proposals to revamp Stockton town centre. The Castlegate Centre is still home to Woolworths, Wilkinsons, Boots and Iceland.

Lathe Investments is a specialist property fund manager and asset manager and has already announced on its website it has acquired the centre.

Ashley Blake, a director and head of property at Lathe, said: "We are excited by the vision for the town centre put forward by the council and other local bodies.

"A re-branding exercise, improvements to entrances and adding better shopping mall cafes and restaurants are the first of the many enhancements we have planned for the property."

Stockton Borough Council has approved plans to revamp the town centre. The 15-year strategy hangs on persuading the Government to provide £20m and attracting private finance of £60m. The idea of demolishing the Swallow hotel and parking at the Castlegate centre has been mooted as part of a scheme to provide better routes to the river, with compensation given to the property owners.

Lathe has appointed DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, in Newcastle, to continue managing the centre and act as advisors to the fund. The current management team at the centre, including manager John Clift, will remain for the moment. DTZ and Glen Davidson Angus have been appointed as joint letting agents.