A NORTH-EAST shopping centre has been sold for more than £25m.

Darlington's Queen Street Shopping Centre has been bought from St Martin's Property Group by the Halladale Group and an unnamed co-investor.

Halladale would not comment on the sale last night but is expected to make an announcement to the London Stock Exchange in the middle of next week.

A source close to the deal told The Northern Echo: "They have exchanged and agreed terms. Halladale are doing it with a co-investment partner.

"Halladale as a company always goes into properties like this and enhances the retail development."

St Martin's confirmed it had agreed terms on the property. It put Queen Street on the market in October 2004 after pulling out of the town's £90m Commercial Street shopping centre project.

Tony Clifford, executive director at St Martin's, said the deal agreed was "well in excess" of the £25m asking price.

"We had an excellent response from investors and developers interested in this opportunity," he said. "We hope to complete the sale of this investment in the near future."

The source said that Halladale hoped to work closely with whichever developer was chosen to build the Commercial Street centre.

Four companies are bidding for the contract, which Darlington Borough Council's cabinet will award on April 12.

"There is even a possibility that there could be an entrance to the new shopping centre through Queen Street," added the source. "But we are not talking full-scale redevelopment of Queen Street."

A council spokesman said Queen Street no longer formed part of the Commerical Street plan.

But he said: "As far as we know, all four of the developers have made some contact with Halladale to varying degrees. What that contact is, we couldn't say. They are all out there to put forward the best proposals."