Schroders hires CBRE for City Tower strategy
SCHRODERS, the new landlord of City Tower in Manchester, has appointed CBRE’s planning team to work on a long term strategy for the site.
The investment house bought the property from Bruntwood for £132m in the summer.
As well as the 30-storey tower, which has 225,000 sq ft of offices, it took on a three-acre chunk of the city centre stretching from Mosley Street to Portland Street with a total of 615,000 sq ft.
The deal includes the 185-bed Mercure hotel, the 80,000 sq ft 2 New York Street, and 22 retail units.
The tower is almost fully let with just two vacant floors, but Schroders is planning to make further improvements to the offices, and particularly the retail areas on the Piccadilly Gardens side. Rents are priced at £17/sq ft but Schroders believes they have the potential for £20/sq ft.
Stuart Robinson, chairman of UK Planning at CBRE, said: “The acquisition of City Tower represented a major investment by Schroders into Manchester City Centre and paves the way for significant value to be added to this landmark scheme.
“Rather than focus inwardly upon City Tower itself, Schroders is keen to work collaboratively with local businesses, landowners, the city council and city centre management company CityCo, to improve the wider environment and capitalise upon the exceptional location of the asset. We are currently reviewing a number of options to maximise the potential of this exciting and unique opportunity within the heart of Manchester.”
Schroders has also appointed Colliers International to market the property. At a City Tower event yesterday hosted by the property news website Place North West, Colliers’ investment chief Jonathan Mills said: “This is unique. There are very few buildings of this size and on this acreage hence they took the plunge, at the right time in the market.”
