Retail tycoon’s stepson backs Granite Turner

UPDATE October 2021: Bolton Regeneration JV no longer working on approved Crompton Place redevelopment

Brett Palos, a relative of billionaire businessman Sir Philip Green, has acquired a 50% stake in Liverpool-based Granite Turner, formerly known as Midia.

Granite Turner is part of Bolton Regeneration, a private consortium between the investment specialist and Beijing Construction Engineering Group International, that has been set up to pursue delivering the redevelopment of Crompton Place.

Palos is the founder of Brett Palos Investments and is a property developer and entrepreneur. He acquired London’s Thackery Estate in 2012, among other investments, and has since transformed it into a real estate asset manager.

Palos became Green’s stepson in 1990 when his mother Tina married the former chairman of Topshop owner Arcadia Group.

He has acquired a stake in Granite Turner through his Brett Palos Investments vehicle, making him a 50% shareholder in the business with director Jason Granite owning the other half, according to a statement on Companies House.

Meanwhile, Steven Turner, another director at Granite Turner, left the position earlier this month, a separate Companies House filing shows. Turner worked for Midia, Granite Turner’s previous name before it rebranded last September.

First as Midia, and now as Granite Turner, the company is part of the Bolton Regeneration joint venture with Chinese construction group BCEGI, which has secured planning permission to deliver a 110-bed hotel, 150 homes and 113,000 sq ft of office space at the former shopping centre site in Bolton.

Granite Turner remains part of that joint venture, according to Companies House, which lists Jason Granite as a director alongside BCEGI’s Dongwen Yu.

Initially as Midia, it was also part of IGF Developments, a joint venture with Ion Property Developments appointed by Liverpool City Council in 2018 to deliver the 1,500-home Festival Gardens – a £700m project designed by architects BDP and AHR.

However, earlier this week, Ion took full control of IGF, buying out Granite Turner by mutual agreement, and now plans to deliver the 28-acre scheme alone.