A site set to be vacated by EE in November has been bought by Scottish business brothers Sandy and James Easdale in their hometown of Greenock.
The commercial premises in the town centre has been bought for a seven-figure sum from a London-based asset manager and comes just months before EE move their staff out of the space.
The 60,000 square foot property has been occupied by EE and its predecessors T-Mobile and one2one since the building was opened but the 450 staff there will move to Glasgow by the end of November this year.
The office space was built in 1999 and has 450 parking spaces while also having views overlooking the River Clyde and facing the new Greenock Ocean Terminal.
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It’s the latest part of the Easdales property portfolio which now stands at £900million across the UK through their investment brang, Dalglen.
The Easdales are now hoping to work with EE and others such as Scottish Enterprise, Inverclyde Council and the Scottish and UK government to see if the jobs could remain in Greenock.
Sandy Easdale said: “We’re pleased to add the EE building to our portfolio. It occupies a great location within Greenock, easily accessible by car and public transport and enjoys an outstanding view over the Clyde and towards the new Ocean Terminal facility.
“At this stage it seems unlikely that EE will reverse its decision to leave Greenock but we are more than willing to work with government and other partners to see if a solution can be found. We would be pleased to talk to the new Labour MP Martin McCluskey to see if he could bring his influence to bear with party leader Anas Sarwar to see if there is a solution.
“Another 450 jobs lost in Greenock would bring the total to 1,200 lost locally over the last 18 months which is a bitter pill to swallow for the region.”
James Easdale said: “One of the key priorities identified in Inverclyde’s economic strategy was to increase capacity to accommodate private sector jobs but if anything, the region cannot even hold onto many of the ones it has currently got.
“We are committed to working with others to see if we can keep EE in the town and if that is not possible, we will want to see if we can find a new tenant for the building who will bring jobs to the area.
“Inverclyde is a great place to work and live and it is vital that politicians play their part in making that case to businesses and investors more vigourously.”
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