by Catherine Wheatley of EGi and David Sands
Argent is joining Merlin International in Manchester to build a huge leisure complex anchored by Warners at the Great Northern Warehouse site, and Burford has fixed on CIS’ Shudehill site as the most likely location for its first Trocadero outside London.
Merlin chairman and chief executive Peter Jevans said that legal agreements have been drawn up and Warners will take a 22-screen multiplex cinema.
Jevans already has consent for 92,900m2 (1m sq ft) of leisure, retail and offices and now expects to start building the 41,805m2 (450,000 sq ft) leisure phase, including the cinema, within six months. There will be 1,600 parking spaces.
Local agents believe that the Great Northern project will be hugely successful. St Quintin partner Chris Jones said: “This area of town is preferred by leisure operators because it is close to the G-Mex exhibition centre and Castlefield – the up-and-coming leisure and residential district – and consequently footfall is high.”
This week Burford chief Nick Leslau also confirmed that his company has an exclusive agreement at CIS’ and the Co-op’s Shudehill site, north of the city centre, for an entertainment complex on behalf of Trocadero.
“We’re looking at Shudehill,” he said. “But it takes time to put Troc projects together . . . building a Trocadero is not like building leisure boxes. We’re only going to do it if we can get all the ducks in a row.” Jones Lang Wootton and Franc Warwick are advising Trocadero.
Leslau also confirmed that Burford is to redevelop the listed Sanderson House at Berners Street, W1, which it acquired last August, as a hotel. The company bought the 9,290m2 (100,000 sq ft) building from Sun Alliance, now Royal Sun Alliance, for £10.7m.
