Office of the Month: Churchgate and Lee buildings
Give us a brief description of the site.
Churchgate is a seven-storey grade-II* listed office building providing some of the largest floor plates in central Manchester. Whilst the building retains many of its original features a sympathetic refurbishment of the common areas and vacant office space is underway. Lee House is an eight-storey grade-II listed building constructed in the 1930s and is adjacent to Churchgate, forming a shared courtyard.
What’s the most interesting feature about the buildings?
The newly refurbished first floor of Churchgate provides one of the most efficient single floors in the city centre. Extending to 20,856 sq ft the space can accommodate over 290 people. Being located along the Oxford Road corridor, the building will be one of only a few to benefit from the newly installed super-fast broadband providing download speeds in the region of 100 Mbs. This makes it ideal for call centre uses and those occupiers in the telecoms, media and technology (TMT) sector.
What’s the history of the building?
Churchgate House was built in 1898 for use as a warehouse and office and was called the Tootal, Broadhurst and Lee Building. When the construction of Lee House commenced in 1928 a 17-storey warehouse and office building was planned which would have made it the tallest building in Europe at that time. These plans were changed midway through construction and the building was only completed up to seventh floor.
How much office space is occupied and how much is available?
The buildings in total extend to over 250,000 sq ft. The newly refurbished space on the first floor of Churchgate provides 20,856 sq ft with a further 9,048 sq ft available on the sixth. The fourth floor extends to approximately 20,000 sq ft and will shortly be refurbished to the same standard as the first floor. In Lee House the second floor provides 13,500 sq ft with splits available from 5,750 sq ft upwards. Tenants include Manchester Solutions, Capita, London School of Business and Finance.
Who owns the building?
Dunedin Property and US private equity house Angelo Gordon bought the building from CBRE Global Investors for around £23m last year.
