The Stack Leisure Park was supposed to herald the transformation of Lochee when it opened in 1992 at a cost of £50 million.
Dundee entrepreneur Michael Johnston bought the derelict former Camperdown Works complex in the late 1980s and transformed it into one of the biggest leisure parks in Scotland.
The jute mill was turned into housing and Cox’s Stack – one of the remaining relics of Dundee’s once-buoyant jute industry – was the landmark feature of the complex.
The chimney stack could be seen from almost any point in the city.
Initially hailed a success, the 11-acre site boasted, at its height, the Odeon cinema, Megabowl bowling alley, the Venue nightclub, Buzz Bar pub, Fatty Arbuckle’s restaurant, a Tesco supermarket, a Gala Bingo hall and a petrol station.
But the developer’s vision of creating a lively, bustling centre for entertainment and dining quickly proved to be a pipe dream as business after business shut its doors, each fresh failure draining a little more of the park’s lifeblood.
Successive operators cut their losses and closed, despite a change of ownership to London-based Marylebone Warwick Balfour Leisure Funds.
One of the country’s biggest commercial property consultant firms, Ryden, employed by the Stack’s owners to rejuvenate the park, said it faced a “slow, lingering death” after leisure parks at Camperdown and Douglas had taken away trade.
The closure of the Odeon in 2001 turned the leisure park into a disaster movie and, at the time, Ryden’s Bill Marley conceded they were now “flogging a dead horse”.
“When the Odeon cinema closed the whole place just lost any momentum it had, and the remaining operators are sitting in a bit of a wilderness,” he said.
“We’ve been trying to find something meaningful to take it forward, but if you look around the Stack, it’s not looking great.
“The only option is to try to find some form of retail use.
“If not, the park’s future is a slow, lingering death.”
The closure left the park with just the Tesco store, bingo hall and bowling alley.
Darlington-based developer Landteam Northern (Dundee) Ltd bought the site and was given approval for a major revamp of the area in August 2006.
The plan that was given the green light involved the demolition of the former Odeon building, the Megabowl and the former Fatty Arbuckle’s restaurant and the erection of three new non-food stores, a new leisure unit and the creation of a restaurant.
The developers envisaged the Tesco store being retained, along with the vacant former Venue nightclub building and the former Buzz and Buster’s restaurants.
Uncertainty about Tesco’s long-term commitment to their Stack store was enough to give prospective tenants second thoughts.
The credit crunch then put paid to a promising housing scheme involving Aberdeen builders Stewart Milne Homes.
Administrator Zolfo Cooper was brought in to operate the park in 2008, before Tesco eventually closed its store in February 2009.
The Megabowl outlet shut in July 2011. It was Dundee’s last remaining ten-pin bowling alley and included a Zapp Zone and Wimpy restaurant.
Zolfo Cooper was now operating the park for the benefit of only one tenant, Gala Bingo, before Liverpool company T. J. Morris Ltd bought the site in 2012.
Derelict sites which previously housed Fatty Arbuckle’s and Megabowl were replaced by retailers including Home Bargains and Aldi in 2013.
The Range opened in the former Tesco building alongside the Gala Bingo, marking a further stage of the revival of the Lochee landmark.
T. J. Morris Ltd was granted permission for a £5m Sports Direct Fitness development at the former Venue nightclub in 2015, before the project was abandoned.
In 2016 it was revealed that bosses behind the Ryze trampoline park had been on course to secure the Odeon site before the deal fell through at the last minute.
The former Venue nightclub eventually became home to Smyth’s superstore and gymnasium in 2018, with the site’s fortunes completely transformed.
The existing Home Bargains store at the park will now be vacated, with the budget retailer moving into a bigger unit on the former Odeon site.
The former cinema will be demolished and the new development will create 50 full-time-equivalent jobs and help to generate millions of pounds for the local economy.
It is the latest chapter in the life of a retail park whose peaks and troughs over the past 30 years have coincided with the ups and downs of Lochee itself.
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