Bank takes control at 9 Portland St

MCR Property Group has lost control of its flagship 9 Portland St office building in Manchester city centre, TheBusinessDesk.com understands.

The building’s secured lender, Lloyds Banking Group, has appointed Jones Lang LaSalle as Law of Property Act (LPA) Receivers to manage the 58,000 sq ft building.

MCR Property Group, which is owned by entrepreneur Aneel Mussarat, bought 9 Portland St for around £5m in 2006.

The Grade II-listed building had been occupied by Greater Manchester’s Passenger Transport Executive (now Transport for Greater Manchester), but MCR acquired it with a view to redeveloping it once GMPTE departed to Argent’s Piccadilly Place scheme.

The building was relaunched in April 2009 with a new feature glass atrium and a quoting rent of around £18 per sq ft, and although it attracted Volker Rail and Merlin Professional Claims services as tenants, the bulk of the space remained unoccupied.

MCR Property Group was contacted, but declined to comment.

A spokesperson for Jones Lang LaSalle confirmed that it had been appointed as Joint LPA receivers, but said that tenants would not be impacted and that receivers were now working through a strategy for the building.

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