Merepark launches Lewis’s offices

DEVELOPER Merepark is to host the formal launch of the 75,000 sq ft of office space at its £160m Central Village scheme to the Liverpool market tomorrow.

The offices, which are housed in the Grade II-listed former Lewis’s building, have been branded as The Department and will take up four floors of the L-shaped Lewis’s building. It is currently being refurbished by Merepark’s construction arm and once complete will also contain an Accor Adagio aparthotel.

Work on the building, which has been part-financed with a £4m grant from the former North West Development Agency, is expected to complete in November.

The Department will contain large, rectangular floors of up to 18,000 sq ft of Grade A space, which is being marketed at £15.50 per sq ft. The offices can be accessed either from Renshaw St or the Plaza level of Central Village, and a new entrance hall with a full-height atrium hall will be created. Joint letting agents are DTZ and CBRE.

Merepark associate director Neal Hunter said: “Central Village is an extremely complex scheme and after several years of hard work we are delighted to see both the hotel and offices taking shape. There has not been a building of this quality in this part of the city before and we believe the inherent strengths of The Department will ensure that it finds a successful niche in the Liverpool office market”.

Chris Lloyd of DTZ said: “The great attraction of The Department is its large rectangular floors of circa 18,000 sq ft.

“Combined with the excellence of the location for staff being mid-way between Lime Street Station and the retail within Liverpool One, the building is ideally suited for call centre or back office use.

“The adjacent leisure facilities in Central Village and Mersey Rail’s Central Station add further to this advantage.”