ITV is making another attempt to sell its 20-acre Quay Street estate in Manchester.
The broadcaster this week instructed Jones Lang LaSalle to advise on the sale, codenamed Project Sidney.
The Quay Street estate includes the Granada studios complex, which features the Coronation Street set. Sources suggested that the redevelopment was likely to include 200,000 sq ft of offices, plus luxury residential.
ITV came close to selling the site to hotelier Surinder Arora in 2008, but the sale fell through as the credit crunch took hold.
Arora bid around £100m for the land, beating competition from Allied London, London & Regional, BNS Properties and a joint venture between Ask Developments and Lend Lease.
Peter Copley, ITV’s property director, said: “This will be a unique opportunity to acquire one of the largest city centre land holdings to come to the market for many years.”
JLL’s North West chairman Bob Dyson added: “The task at hand is to ensure that the real estate offer complements, not competes with, Greater Manchester’s other regeneration projects.”
ITV is vacating the site and relocating to Peel Holdings’ MediaCityUK in nearby Salford. In its results this week, ITV said that the move and improvements to technology would increase its capital expenditure to £80m this year, up from £28m in 2010.
daniel.cunningham@estatesgazette.com
