The Middle Eastern backers of Manchester City football club are working up plans to build a Canary Wharf-style office campus in the east of Manchester.
The football club, Manchester city council and Abu Dhabi United Group are undertaking initial studies into redeveloping the area around the Etihad Stadium with up to 1m sq ft of new-build office space.
In addition to the new-build elements, several hundred thousand square feet of refurbishment targets have been identified in derelict and ageing industrial stock in the area.
Multiple local developers and consultants have been approached to feed in to the plans.
Spread over mid-rise grade-A office blocks of around seven to 10 storeys, the project is intended to move the city’s commercial centre of gravity to the east.
By creating a business park in the east of the city, ADUG hopes to capitalise on a new Metrolink station and rising rents and land costs in the booming city centre to offer businesses a cheaper alternative, replicating the challenge tackled by the City of London with Canary Wharf.
The discussions – which represent the very early stages of what could be a 15-20-year programme – mark the next phase in the football club’s wholesale regeneration of east Manchester.
It is likely initial occupiers will be targeted in the healthcare and sports science sectors.
A source said: “Land on this edge of Manchester is a fraction of the cost of the centre, and the council does not want another big regeneration project on the doorstep of the city – the team are desperate to drag the city out east and build a proper Canary Wharf of the North.”
The club’s owners have already built a £200m training complex and in 2014 they embarked on a £1bn plan to build thousands of new homes in the area.
They have since appointed a professional team to work up plans for the 900-home first phase in Ancoats and New Islington on the eastern edge of Manchester city centre.
