by Terry Cunnew
For industrial and warehouse tenants in and around Manchester the writing is on the wall. After some years of having the whip hand in lease negotiations, the general feeling among Manchester agents is that the market is at last getting back towards a reasonable balance.
In the view of many local observers, the original imbalance arose not so much from an ill-considered building boom as from the creation of two enterprise zones adjoining the city, at Salford and Trafford.
Until the arrival of the zones, the argument runs, the industrial market was reasonably well balanced. But when the zones were declared they had the effect of soaking up the bulk of tenant demand and developer activity while not actually increasing demand overall.
The result was a surge of activity within the enterprise zones, while the established industrial areas outside were more or less left out in the cold.
But now the supply of land within the Trafford and Salford enterprise zones is declining, while at the same time the rate-free period for tenants is getting shorter — the holiday ends in 1991, so the rates incentive is steadily diminishing.
The local office of Richard Ellis take the view that, outside the enterprise zones, the supply of modern space has been increasingly absorbed over the past 18 months as demand has risen. As a result, they say, there is now the possibility of some rental growth.
And rental growth will certainly be needed if there is to be any recovery of speculative development outside the enterprise zones.
Guest Shaw stress this point, saying that because the enterprise zones distorted the market, very little has been built outside them for the past four or five years, aside from purpose-built projects. But now that the non-zone surplus has largely been absorbed there is beginning to be a need for some more development.
However, at current rental levels there is little prospect of that development taking place.
Another problem is that of funding, for the institutions seem highly cautious about new industrial projects outside the enterprise zones, while the investment market within the zones is being distorted by the tax advantages available there.
Elliott Partnership note that industrial yields in the enterprise zones are often below 8% and that there have been reports of yields as low as 6%. But in many cases these deals are being done not by traditional property investors but by a different breed of buyers, who are more interested in tax shelters than income.
On the whole, although the need for renewed development activity outside the enterprise zones is becoming apparent, it seems unlikely that it will start to happen on any significant scale for perhaps another two years. By then the twin factors of rental growth and the declining supply of land within the zones are expected to have made further speculative activity once more an attractive proposition to the institutions.
Meanwhile, in the experience of Dunlop Heywood & Co, industrial lettings are only a minority activity in any case. They calculate that over the past 12 months they have disposed of over 1.5m sq ft of industrial floorspace throughout Greater Manchester. Of that total, nearly 74% was accounted for by freehold disposals!
Dunlop Heywood accept the point that there has indeed been an increase in letting activity but, they argue, that is at least partly due to the reduced supply of good-quality freeholds on the market.
Looking at some specific projects, one that seems to be attracting tenant interest is GMC Superannuation Fund’s Trans Eight development in the Roundthorn Industrial Estate at Wythenshawe to the south of the city.
This consists of eight warehouse units of up to 19,000 sq ft which are being marketed through Matthews & Goodman and Richard Ellis. So far two units have been let and there is firm interest in a further three, one of which is under offer. The lettings have achieved around £1.75 a sq ft.
Staying south of the city, Richard Ellis note that one of the biggest projects on the market is the Stockport Motorway Estate alongside the M63, which they are marketing with Dunlop Heywood and W H Robinson.
This is a joint scheme by Townson Developments, Slough Estates and ESN, and the first phase totalled nearly 125,000 sq ft in units from 5,000 sq ft to over 70,000 sq ft.
The improvement in take-up has been such that now only some 10,000 sq ft remains to be let while rents, say Richard Ellis, have reached £2.25 a sq ft. There is now talk of beginning work on a second phase of 50,000 sq ft, and the probability is that it will start this year.
Similarly, there is Investment in Industry Developments’ Southside One project, on the Bredbury Industrial Park at Stockport, which is being let through Richard Ellis. The first phase of this development totals some 75,000 sq ft in nine units from 3,555 sq ft up to 25,540 sq ft.
All but three units totalling about 10,000 sq ft are let or under offer at rents around £2.20 a sq ft, say RE, and the developers are looking at the possibility of starting a 60,000-sq ft further phase.
North of the city is British Land’s Heywood Business Park (which is the newer, sleeker name for what used to be called the Heywood Industrial Estate). In location terms, the park has enjoyed a major communications boost, thanks to the construction of the M62 and M66 motorways.
Heywood totals around 166 acres and includes 1.4m sq ft of existing buildings with a capacity for expansion up to about 3m sq ft.
Matthews Goodman and Conrad Ritblat are the joint agents for the park, which already boasts a list of major tenants including Boots, Tesco, Philips Electrical and Littlewoods Mail Order. A number of existing units are currently being refurbished and tenures from as short as monthly licenses are available.
Users for the remaining land are being offered freehold acquisition or purpose-built units, but no speculative schemes are planned.
Design-and-build
Returning to the south of the city, EPIC are marketing the second phase of their Stanley Green Estate through the Elliott Partnership and Guest Shaw. Existing occupiers at Stanley Green include BASF, Degussa, Carrington Viyella and Smiths Foods, and phase two, totalling 17 acres, is being marketed for design-and-build projects, although there is a view that there could be some speculative development on the estate.
Elliott are also the agents for the existing Ingersoll complex at Trafford Park, between the M63 and M602. This 187,500-sq ft warehouse complex on an 8.76-acre site — which the agents say is probably the only available property of its type in the North West — is being marketed freehold for £1.8m, although the options are being kept open for either leasing or for sale in parts.
In the same area, off Parkway leading to junction 4 on the M63, is Clarke St Modwen Properties’ Clarke Trading Estate, which is being marketed through Edward Rushton Son & Kenyon and Elliott. This totals 8.1 acres of land for purpose-built schemes and, although outside the Trafford Enterprise Zone, is apparently attracting tenant interest.
Out on the M62, Scottish Equitable Life Assurance Society have been successful in disposing of two phases of their Park 17 development at Moss Lane, Whitefield, to Midland Bank and Express Dairy Foods. Another 64,000 sq ft in seven units is available through Dunlop Heywood & Co, and two further phases on the 22-acre estate will bring the final total floorspace to around 300,000 sq ft.
A recent prelet at Park 17 achieved what is believed to be a record rent of £2.85 a sq ft, and such has been the success of the development that Dunlop Heywood have acquired a further 4.5 acres to add to the estate. This is earmarked for design-and-build development up to 100,000 sq ft and negotiations are well advanced on a building of over 60,000 sq ft.
Staying on the M62, Raglan Property Trust have so far disposed of 17 acres of their 37-acre Express Trading Estate at Farnworth to seven users. This leaves them with a further 11 plots, either for outright sale or for design-and-build, which are being marketed through Elliott and King & Co.
Further along the motorway, Royal Life and John Finlan have their Stakehill Industrial Park at Middleton, where they have let 90,000 sq ft of speculative space to HMSO at around £1.70 a sq ft. St Quintin, Elliott and Mason Owen & Partners are joint agents at Stakehill, where units are currently available from 5,000 sq ft to 52,000 sq ft.
Enterprise zones
All this so far has ignored the enterprise zones, which in recent years have had such a major impact on the industrial market.
As already noted, the zones are now entering the second half of their 10-year life, with the result that the rate-free incentive has lost some of its attraction. Even so, the zones remain a powerful draw and tenants are still prepared to pay high rents.
Indeed, Dunlop Heywood say that while they have noted some easing of demand for smaller units up to 4,000 sq ft within the zones, there has been a corresponding increase in interest in larger units over 10,000 sq ft, many of which, they say, will have to be purpose-built.
As far as rents are concerned, Swimer Leon Blasdale make the point that outside the zones rents have tended to stick at around £1.70 a sq ft, while inside them smaller units up to about 3,000 sq ft let at £2.75 to £3 a sq ft and larger buildings make more like £2.25 to £2.50. There have even been cases, say the agents, where hybrid “business units” have fetched rents as high as £3.60 a sq ft.
Swimer Leon are sole agents for one of the first Trafford Enterprise Zone estates, the Prudential’s 240,000-sq ft Guinness Road Trading Estate. Here rents are relatively low, at £2.10 a sq ft, but only four units totalling about 40,000 sq ft remain to be let.
Also on Guinness Road is Clarke St Modwen’s Western Access project, which is being marketed through Guest Shaw and Dunlop Heywood. This totals 6.5 acres of development land available in freehold and leasehold plots for development to requirements.
Dunlop Heywood are also agents, with Wrather & Co, for Pentith’s design-and-build Broad Oak Industrial Park. So far nine users occupy 110,000 sq ft at Broad Oak, and Pentith currently have land for schemes from 5,000 sq ft to 46,000 sq ft.
On the Salford Enterprise Zone one of the more active developers are Percy Rowles, who have a clutch of projects. They have the Langworthy and Sovereign enterprise parks, both being marketed by Dunlop Heywood, their Houston Park project with Swimer Leon Blasdale as sole agents and the Washington Centre, where the agents are Elliott Partnership.
The Sovereign Estate has units from 1,938 sq ft to 9,300 sq ft, while Langworthy has units from 1,938 sq ft to 4,069 sq ft, either for letting or for sale on 125-year ground leases.
Houston Park contains larger units, from 6,975 sq ft up to 20,344 sq ft, with consent for up to 15,000 sq ft of retail/showroom use.
The Washington Centre, which consists of nine buildings named after American presidents, is much more a business park, with units up to 7,179 sq ft and office contents of 50% or higher. The first two units were prelet and the second two are now near completion.
Even more along the hi-tech road is the Greenwood Business Centre in Regent Road, a scheme by Paul Sykes (Developments). In effect, Greenwood, which is being marketed through Guest Shaw, is pure office space, although it is also capable of studio, showroom, R&D or even light assembly on the ground floor.
The first two phases at Greenwood are Northwood House, totalling some 15,000 sq ft of which all is close to letting agreement, and the 10,000-sq ft Westwood House of which most was prelet.
Salford Quays
Currently, one of the biggest projects in the zone is the Salford Quays plan for the redevelopment of Salford Docks.
When the enterprise zones were originally declared, the Manchester Ship Canal Co emerged as the owner of 66% of the land at Salford and 13% of Trafford, along with sizeable holdings such as Salford Quays which are virtually surrounded by enterprise zone land.
In the event, the canal company has sold the Salford Quays land, between quays 6 and 9, to Salford City Council, which has put together the development plan. However, given the fact that the canal company owns so much adjoining land, the planning has been closely co-ordinated.
Work is already under way at Salford Quays by house-builders Spencers, by British Caledonian on a 166-bedroom hotel and by Thorn EMI on a multi-screen cinema complex.
And just started on Quay 7 is Fearnley Developments’ Waterfront 2000 hi-tech complex, which is being marketed through Guest Shaw and Grimley & Son. Phase one of this high-quality two-storey development will provide 30,000 sq ft and the final total will be some 165,000 sq ft.
Just across the canal, on enterprise zone land, Guest Shaw are also agents for Chestergate Seddon’s Wharfside Business Centre, which is currently under construction for completion in September or October. This project totals 41,000 sq ft, of which 7,500 sq ft is already prelet.
Back within the Salford Quays scheme itself, Salford City plans envisage a wide range of uses from leisure and tourist activities to small-scale office and retail operations, but no large-scale shopping in the form of major supermarkets or hypermarkets.
Indeed, there tends to be a general antipathy towards large shopping and retail warehouse schemes on the part of planners, coupled with a strong demand for such schemes on the part of users.
However, Richard Ellis note that, given the current attitude of the Department of the Environment, which tends to allow retail warehouse projects on appeal, local planners appear to be bowing to the inevitable by allowing such proposals to go ahead.
South Manchester, say Richard Ellis, is a favoured area for retail warehouse users. An example is a 12-acre gas board site on the M63 at Stockport for which agents Grimley & Son attracted 32 tender bids for a development of up to 200,000 sq ft. RE expect this site to set record rent levels — currently rents on DIY units are around £4.50 a sq ft and they say that this site should top £5 a sq ft.
Another favoured area, say Swimer Leon Blasdale, is the Cheetham/Strangeways district north of the city centre, where a number of cash-and-carry schemes have gone ahead despite initial resistance.
Turning to the traditional shopping sector, central Manchester faces competition from a number of prosperous and popular satellite towns such as Altrincham and Stockport, where zone A rents are not far short of city-centre levels.
In addition, a number of new projects are planned or under way, including Whitecraft Developments’ 43,000-sq ft, 19-unit scheme in Stockport; the £30m Grosvenor Developments’ project in Bark Street, Bolton, which includes a 100,000-sq ft Debenhams store; and the £26m CIN/Northern England Development Associates/local council Market Square scheme in Wigan which will total over 200,000 sq ft.
Given the strength of the competition, it is just as well that Machester City Council, among others, has got its act together in the past few years in order to boost the attractions of Manchester city centre. Not so very long ago, central Manchester was looking distinctly sad, with a high level of retail vacancies and a largely stagnant market.
But now, say Bernard Thorpe, people are coming back to central Manchester, thanks to the combined efforts of the business community and the city council who, between them, have spent a lot of time, effort and money getting the central area back on the right tracks.
The former anti-car policies have gone, and the city now boasts about the levels of parking available to shoppers. Pedestrianisation has worked its usual magic on prime pitches such as Market Street and St Ann’s Square to draw the shoppers in.
As a result, according to city council statistics, Manchester central shops have come up with trading levels comfortably exceeding the national average over the Christmas period for the past few years.
Market Street, the top trading pitch, now has zone A rent levels around £65 a sq ft, and Bernard Thorpe expect that fresh letting evidence will raise this to nearer £75 a sq ft in the not too distant future.
The same agents make the point that a great deal has been done to enhance the attractions of the Arndale Centre, which dominates Market Street.
Some argue that the main problem with the Arndale Centre was that, given the nature of the planning system, the development was dated almost as soon as it was completed. Swimer Leon, for example, note that after a good start, the Arndale Centre seemed to suffer a flood of vacancies and began to look a bit down market. Shoppers appeared to find it rather gloomy and confusing.
Now, thanks to a £3.5m refurbishment programme, the Arndale Centre has come firmly back to centre stage. This programme has brought natural light into the centre, has brought in planting and feature lighting and has generally upgraded the whole project.
And the extension of late Thursday shopping to the whole year rather than just the Christmas period also seems to have enhanced the attraction of the centre.
As a result, there are now few vacant units in the centre, while recent deals have produced zone A rental levels of around £50 a sq ft.
Aside from the Arndale Centre, Market Street itself has seen a batch of useful newcomers recently, including Next, Next Man, Cecil Gee subsidiary Gee 2, Jean Express and the Evans Collection, while Dolcis — opposite the Arndale Centre entrance — have expanded into the adjoining premises.
Even off Market Street there is good interest, as in the case of the former Allied Carpets store in Spring Gardens. This store, with a 128-sq ft frontage, 15,000 sq ft on the ground floor and a further 8,000 sq ft at first-floor level, was let by Bernard Thorpe, acting for Co-operative Insurance Society, at an initial rent of £46,500 pa. The new tenants, the North West-based multiple Toy & Hobby Stores, were represented by Ramsey Jones & Partners.
After Market Street, the most sought-after locations in central Manchester are King Street and the charming pedestrianised St Ann’s Square, which are the main centres for up-market specialty shopping.
Recent newcomers to King Street include Principals, Undercover and Holland & Barratt, and currently Bernard Thorpe are acting for National Westminster Bank in letting the former Job Centre at nos 39 to 41. This unit, with a listed frontage, has a ground floor of some 2,000 sq ft and is admittedly at the less popular end of King Street, but even so it seems an unlikely location for a Job Centre. One hopes that the explanation is that the PSA was paying a historically low rent.
St Ann’s Square, which is at the heart of a conservation area bounded by Deansgate, John Dalton Street, Cross Street and Market Street, is a little gem that easily puts paid to anyone’s misconceptions about Manchester.
The latest addition to the St Ann’s Square landscape is The Gardens, a galleried speciality shopping centre (with offices above) developed by Royal Insurance Group Pension Fund. It is being marketed through H H & J Robinson and St Quintin and is scheduled to be officially opened in mid-April.
In all, The Gardens contains 12 shop units from 350 sq ft to 2,060 sq ft on ground and mezzanine floors, a 5,600-sq ft restaurant/bistro area on the first floor and a coffee shop/wine bar of 2,160 sq ft at lower-ground floor level.
H H & J Robinson, who boast that The Gardens is the first scheme of its kind in Manchester, say that eight of the shops are already let with strong interest in the rest of the retail space as well as in the 30,000-sq ft offices above. Shop rents are based around a zone A of £35 a sq ft for the best of the ground-floor units.
However, opportunities for developments such as The Gardens are few and far between in central Manchester and, say Swimer Leon, even suburban retail projects tend to be fairly small-scale.
As an example they note the Alross Estates development at the junction of Stockport Road and Dickenson Road, Longsight, which is scheduled for completion in July.
This is a development of five unit shops next to Boots and opposite Asda. The corner units total 2,050 sq ft of ground-floor sales with an asking rent of £18,000 pa, while the other units range from 410 sq ft to 670 sq ft with rents between £5,500 and £7,500 pa.
Having said that, there is much speculation at present over the future development of Manchester Ship Canal Co’s 300-acre Barton Dock Estate, on the M63 west of the city.
Although MSCC advisers Dunlop Heywood say there are no firm plans yet, the site is seen as having great potential for a major retail centre to rival the North East’s Metro Centre.
However, of all the sectors of the Manchester market, it is offices that are currently attracting the greatest optimism. Last year saw total lettings of around 350,000 sq ft — well above the average for the previous four years. Large deals of over 10,000 sq ft were prominent, the biggest being British Telecom’s taking of 36,000 sq ft in St Andrews House in Portland Street (where Jones Lang Wootton and W H Robinson were joint letting agents).
At the same time, the magic word “prelet” reappeared in the agents’ vocabulary and rents rose towards the latest special figure of £7.50 a sq ft.
Indeed, some argue that £7.50 has already been established although others say that, while it is certainly being asked, there is not yet evidence of it actually being achieved. However, even the cautious ones are confident that the £7.50 rent level is going to be reached sooner rather than later.
Grimley & Son, who are among those who say that the £7.50 peak has been reached, listed 14 buildings immediately available in the city in their latest market review, of which all but three were partly let. They identified a further eight buildings under construction, two of which had already attracted tenants.
In their December 1985 market study, Richard Ellis made the point that 63% of the 290,000 sq ft of new developments completed in the previous 18 months had been let. In comparison, over the 18 months to June 1984 only 20% of the 195,000 sq ft completed had been let.
The Ellis report also noted that little of the letting activity took place in the traditional financial core of the city, bounded by Cross Street and Mosley Street. Some 93% of deals were apparently outside the hard core area.
£9 not to be realised
With disarming honesty, Ellis say that their July 1984 prediction that prime rents could reach £9 a sq ft by mid-1986 does not, on the basis of current asking rents, seem likely to be realised. They add, however, if letting activity continues at current levels the £9 a sq ft rent should be reached early next year.
The bulk of the space due to reach the market during 1986 and 1987 is in redevelopment schemes rather than refurbishments. However, a sizeable proportion of central Manchester is covered by conservation areas, and in many cases the new developments are taking place within retained facades.
As a result, say the Elliott Partnership, there are relatively few schemes offering the large single floors which the big professional companies tend to prefer.
While not denying the need to preserve the best of Manchester’s Victorian architectural heritage, Elliott argue that this process should not at the same time preclude the construction of completely modern late-20th-century buildings. If Manchester is to attract the sort of high-profile tenants that are attracted to London and the South East, the city must offer them the style of buildings which London and the South East provide.
On the scene, it looks as if Hutley Holdings will be going some way towards filling the bill with their redevelopment of 81 Fountain Street.
Hutley, who have been advised throughout by Dunlop Heywood plan a high-quality building of 42,000 sq ft, with a double-height entrance hall and 22 parking spaces.
The development, which is scheduled to come on stream next year, will probably be called 81st on Fountain.
Away from the city centre, the main area of office interest is in the southern suburbs, where Richard Ellis say that there has been little recent new development.
At the same time, add the agents, there is a good demand, with the result that rents for top-quality offices have seen good growth. In Wilmslow, they say, rents are not far short of city-centre levels, at around £7.25 a sq ft, while in the other main centres the level is more like £6 to £6.25 a sq ft.
The supply of modern offices in south Manchester is put at around 48,000 sq ft in total — most of it in Stockport which, in Dawbank House, offers the only unit over 10,000 sq ft in the seven centres surveyed. A further 124,000 sq ft in five buildings is currently under construction, but 20,000 sq ft of this is for owner-occupation by Laings at Stretford and the balance is seen as being insufficient to meet the current level of demand.
Developers have not missed the point, and a number of new schemes are scheduled to start this year in Sale and Wilmslow, some of which, Ellis predict, will attract prelets.
On the market
Turning from the general to the specific, it is worth looking at some of the properties currently being marketed.
Not untypical is Norwich Union’s project at 60 Spring Gardens, within the traditional financial district.
This is a new development behind existing facades, which will be ready in April and is being marketed through H H & J Robinson and Suttons. The project totals 26,700 sq ft on five floors, with individual floors up to 5,800 sq ft.
According to H H & J Robinson, the project is attracting interest, with an asking rent of £7.50 a sq ft.
Canal HQ
Just on stream is Ship Canal House in King Street, the former headquarters of the Manchester Ship Canal Co which has been refurbished by Guardian Royal Exchange. This provides individual floors up to nearly 10,000 sq ft in what is regarded as a high-profile building. Dunlop Heywood, who are joint agents with the Elliott Partnership, say that rents are pitched around £7.38 a sq ft.
Dunlop Heywood are also agents for Lincoln House, a new development by Gleeson and GMC Superannuation Fund at the corner of Deansgate and Brazennose Street. The hope is to launch this, which the agents describe as “probably the most hi-tech building in the city”, on July 4.
In all, Lincoln House contains 39,225 sq ft in floors up to 5,000 sq ft with a projected rent of £7.50 a sq ft.
Another scheme scheduled for completion in July is MEPC’s St James’s Court development at the corner of Brown Street and Marsden Street, which is being marketed through W H Robinson. According to the agents, there are serious talks in hand for a single letting of the whole of the 37,500-sq ft building, which has an asking rent of £7.50 a sq ft.
£7.50 not established
W H Robinson are among those not yet satisfied that the £7.50 rent is established in the city, but they argue that when it is it will be either this scheme or the 60 Spring Gardens project that will do it.
For the present, W H Robinson say, it is Orbit Developments/Sun Life of Canada’s Clarence House scheme on Clarence Street that is fetching top rents. The building, which is being marketed jointly with Elliott, totals 18,000 sq ft, of which some 3,000 sq ft remains with an asking rent of £7.25 a sq ft.
The same two agents are also acting jointly on French Kier Developments’ 15,127-sq ft Sussex House project in Mosley Street. The development, overlooking St Peter’s Square, is outside the prime financial core and so has an asking rent of £6.95 a sq ft.
Another off-pitch scheme is AMEC’s Sunlight House in Quay Street, a 200,000-sq ft refurbishment for which Elliott and Dunlop Heywood are joint agents. This scheme, of which 180,000 sq ft was office space, was regarded by many as something of a white elephant, say Elliott.
Office pathfinder
But in the event it proved something of a pathfinder in the Manchester office revival, with some 150,000 sq ft let over 18 months and a current position in which only about 15,000 sq ft remains vacant and rent levels have reached £5.50 a sq ft.
Another success story has been Capital & Regional’s upgrading and renovations of the Corn Exchange, which was neglected, largely vacant and threatened with demolition when they acquired it. The 160,000-sq ft building, on a 1.5-acre site opposite the cathedral, was producing a gross income of just £80,000 pa.
Today the four floors of offices are let to some 160 tenants, with only 7,500 sq ft currently available. The former trading floor is occupied by the Royal Exchange Theatre Co and a jewellery and antiques centre, while the basement and ground floors provide shops, restaurants and bars. And the gross income is now over £400,000 pa.
Off-pitch
Similarly off pitch, to the other side of the city centre, is Legal & General’s 111 Piccadilly, a building formerly occupied by Courtaulds which ran into structural problems. As a result, L&G carried out a complete refurbishment, finished about two years ago, in order to relet the building.
Richard Ellis, who are letting agents for the property, say that it is now about 50% let to tenants who include Schroder Life Assurance, Albany Life Assurance and Weslyan & General Assurance. A further letting of 10,000 sq ft has just been completed and another 10,000 sq ft is currently in solicitors’ hands.
It is rumoured locally that the latest tenant at 111 Piccadilly is News International, although Richard Ellis could not confirm this.
Capital & Regional are well on the way to filling their refurbished Parsonage Chambers, The Parsonage, which they bought from MEPC.
About half of the 22,000-sq ft building was prelet when the refurbishment was completed in January and now only 7,000 sq ft remains at £3.50 a sq ft.
Also refurbished is Centurion II, in Brazennose Street, a 1960s building formerly occupied by a Unilever subsidiary. After it was vacated, the building stood empty for about two years, until the decision was taken in mid-1985 to refurbish it to a high standard.
That, say W H Robinson — who are joint agents with Knight Frank & Rutley and Kirkwood Craig & Co — turned the trick. Now, 15,000 sq ft of the 56,500-sq ft block is under offer and there are talks in hand on another 10,000 sq ft.
KFR and W H Robinson are also acting jointly on Charlton House, a more decentralised building out on Chester Road, close to the Manchester United football ground in Old Trafford. This is a 25,500-sq ft property on six floors, with surface parking for 128 cars, and is being marketed for sale, freehold.
Also for sale (or letting) are the buildings forming Ralli Courts at West Riverside, which are being offered through Bernard Thorpe and Fifield Glyn. In all, Ralli Courts cover some 5 acres on which a total of 150,000 sq ft of office space will be built.
Georgian offices
So far, the developers have completed around 30,000 sq ft of unusually convincing “Georgian” terraced offices in units of 2,700 sq ft gross.
Users who want the genuine article, on the other hand, will have a choice of eight listed Georgian buildings which are being refurbished in Windsor Terrace (invariably known simply as The Terrace) overlooking the former Manchester racecourse in Salford.
There, Guest Shaw clients Baglow Sherry, a firm of public relations consultants, have bought 10 Georgian buildings, two for their own use with the rest to be sold or let.
Among the suburban office developments currently on the market, the largest is Laing’s Tabley Court scheme at Victoria Street, Altrincham, which is being marketed by Bernard Thorpe and Matthews & Goodman.
This project totals some 39,300 sq ft in two blocks, a main building of 29,538 sq ft and four small linked buildings ranging from 1,938 sq ft to 3,399 sq ft. Asking rents at Tabley Court, which has just been completed, are pitched at £6.75 a sq ft.
So far, two of the small units, totalling 3,911 sq ft, have been let to Granada, while another of 2,446 sq ft plus a suite of 2,424 sq ft in the main building are under offer.
Matthews & Goodman are also agents, with W H Robinson and Dunlop Heywood, for Gateway House at Gatley, hard by Manchester International Airport. This is being developed by Orbit Developments and adjoins their successful Manchester International Office Centre.
When completed later this year it will provide a total of 24,560 sq ft with a rent target of £7.25 to £7.50 a sq ft. Marketing has now started with the aim of finding a major tenant for the whole development.
G-Mex opening
Back in the city centre, next week will see the official opening by Her Majesty the Queen of Manchester’s newest landmark, the Greater Manchester Exhibition Centre.
This brings back into use the former Manchester Central railway station, which opened in 1880 but had stood derelict since it was closed in 1969. The opening of G-Mex is in a way the swan-song of the soon-to-be-defunct Greater Manchester Council, for it was it which, with Commercial Union, set up the consortium responsible for converting the former station.
The centre has a main hall of 112,000 sq ft of column-free floorspace, with on-site parking for 800 cars, and it has proved a swift success — G-Mex was fully booked two years ahead while it was still at shell stage.
G-Mex itself is only the first stage in a major programme aimed at the revitalisation of some 26 acres of industrial wasteland in the heart of the city. On the same day (March 21) that she opens the exhibition centre, the Queen will also inaugurate the £14.6m refurbishment of the Midland Hotel — the hotel where Rolls first met Royce.
Opened in 1903, the Midland was in its heyday one of the more opulent in the country, but the years did not deal kindly with it. Now it is to be restored to its former preeminence by Holiday Inn, who are making it their flagship in Europe.
There is general agreement among agents that G-Mex is going to provide a major boost for what has been a largely neglected area of the city. And this trend is likely to be further supported by activities in the neighbouring Castlefield conservation area around Liverpool Road.
Indeed, Liverpool Road boasts the world’s first passenger railway station, opened in 1830 and now to be the city’s Museum of Science and Industry. And just down the road is the former Market Hall, dating from 1877, which now houses the Air and Space Museum.
The things that are happening around G-Mex and Castlefield are part of a process which Bernard Thorpe see as the re-creation of Manchester’s magnetism. It is a process, they say, that owes much to private initiative — the type of initiative that saved the Opera House and the Palace Theatre from closure, which would have left the city a cultural desert.
The same sort of backing is behind MFPF (Manchester Financial & Professional Forum), an independent association of professionals dedicated to promoting Manchester as the next financial centre in the UK after London.
Manchester, say Thorpes, had a thin time in the 1970s, but things have now swung back. Attitudes are more positive, more designed to boost the city and people’s confidence in it. Current indications are that the effort is being rewarded.
