Tycoon Albert Gubay to donate Edge Lane retail park to charity

Mar 22 2010 by Ben Schofield, Liverpool Echo

THE MULTI-MILLIONAIRE tycoon who owns Liverpool’s Edge Lane retail park is set to give it to charity.

Albert Gubay, who made his fortune with the Kwik Save supermarket chain, will put the 100-acre site into a charitable foundation.

The foundation, which could be worth up to £1billion, will aim to generate at least £20m each year for good causes.

Mr Gubay is planning to donate his entire empire – which includes Edge Lane’s owner Derwent Holdings Limited – to the fund.

In January Mr Gubay’s firm signed a deal with Liverpool City Council which should see £200m invested in the site, with 600,000 sq ft of new shops, a new Victorian-style park and an extension to Mersey Care’s Rathbone Hospital.

Mr Gubay’s property holdings on Edge Lane included the Ian Skelly garage and the Travellers Rest pub.

But they were among sites which fell into disrepair and a number became some of the the city’s most notorious grot spots – named in the ECHO’s Stop the Rot campaign.