Birmingham City Council has confirmed its £3m-plus purchase of the city’s former Municipal Savings Bank to give it a foothold in the £450m Arena Central scheme.
Grade II-listed 301 Broad Street, which has 32,000 sq ft of space, has been sold by Hampton Trust.
The plc put the building on the market last October, after failing to agree a deal with Arena’s jv developers; Andy Ruhan’s Bridgehouse Capital and Miller Developments.
They are looking to develop some two million sq ft of mixed-use space on a seven-acre site, including a skyscraper with 500 apartments, and up to 500,000 sq ft of office space.
The one-time Lloyds TSB banking centre, which has been empty for a decade, occupies a central position at the front of the site.
King Sturge, which sold the building for Hampton, had initially been hoping to get around £3.5m, but would only say the deal as worth “over £3m”.
Its associate, Eleanor Deeley, described the purchase of the building as “one of the last pieces of the jig-saw to fall into place before the Arena Central scheme can move forward.”
However, it could be several years before 301 Broad Street plays an active part in the scheme.
Miller’s managing director, Andrew Sutherland, hoped work would start on the residential skyscraper in early 2007, and be completed by the end of 2009.
He said other elements of the scheme would proceed through the former Central TV building, along Holiday Street and up to Broad Street over a three-to-four year period.
References: EGi News 09/05/06
