Sackville Properties has acquired a prized site next to its proposed Station Hill development in Reading for an undisclosed price.

Property Week has learnt that it has bought 110,000 sq ft retail mall Friars Walk, which has been vacant since 1999, from Chester Properties. Contracts are due to be exchanged within weeks.

A spokesman for Sackville said the site would be utilised into the Station Hill, a £500m mixed-use scheme next to Reading station.

The first £160m phase will comprise a 230,000 sq ft residential tower with 32 storeys and a £150m, 24-storey office tower equating to 270,000 sq ft of office space. The second and third phases will include two office towers of 240,000 sq and 170,000 sq ft office block, and two residential towers of 87,000 sq ft and 154,000 sq ft (14,310 sq m).

Sackville said it hoped that its planning application, submitted in February, would be determined by the summer.