‘2,000 jobs’ at Water St as landowners draw up plans
THREE companies that own a 25-acre plot of land on the eastern fringe of Manchester city centre have drawn up development plans for the area.
ITV, the Big Yellow Self-Storage Company and Crosby Lend Lease own the mostly vacant land around Water Street that sits between Castlefield and the River Irwell.
They have put forward early plans to the city council which envisage a mixed-use development that they say could create 2,000 jobs.
It would include some 600,000 sq ft of residential, 300,000 sq ft of offices, a 100,000 sq ft hotel and 200,000 sq ft of retail. The plans replace earlier proposals that were shelved following the 2008 banking crisis.
“This small number of interests, together with the availability of land for development creates a real opportunity to secure investment in this area in the medium term,” says the council in a report prepared ahead of an executive meeting on February 16.
“There is some pressure to bring forward an early phase of development and it would be important to ensure that this, and any future phases of development come forward in a manner that does not prejudice the wider regeneration opportunity,” it adds.
“The proposed regeneration framework would provide an appropriate mechanism to ensure that proposals can be properly considered in an appropriate context.”
The first phase would be anchored by a new storage facility for Big Yellow at the junction of the Manchester to Liverpool railway viaduct and Water Street. The proposals also include open space around an ‘improved River Medlock’.
The council says the mixed-use area will improve connectivity between Castlefield and Salford and create a new destination that it hopes would attract small, creative businesses.
