Shoosmiths advises Allied London on £300m deal for Enterprise City

Daniel Monaghan

Shoosmiths solicitors has advised Allied London on a £300m long-term funding partnership with Aviva Investors designed to create Enterprise City at the new St Johns neighbourhood in Manchester.

The multi-million pound investment will allow Allied London to deliver more than one million sq ft of commercial and leisure space, including TV and film studios, hotel/leisure and various property infrastructure across 10 buildings.

Earlier this year Shoosmiths also acted for Allied London when they secured Booking.com as the anchor tenant for 222,000 sq ft of space at Manchester Goods Yard, which forms part of Enterprise City’s tech campus.

Shoosmiths real estate partners Vaqas Farooq and Daniel Monaghan led on the deal, alongside partner Judy Fawcett and associate Laura Green.

Earmarked for the former site of Granada Television Studios, Enterprise City will provide spaces for start-ups and small and medium-sized entities, as well as production facilities for media companies and buildings designed to attract global brands and industry leaders.

Daniel Monaghan said: “We are delighted to have been able to advise Allied London on such a monumental deal for the city.

“With such a large number of assets associated with the partnership, there were many complexities to consider to bring the deal to completion.

“Enterprise City is an extremely significant project for Manchester, which will not only drive the success of our regional economy, but create a global platform for us to be seen as a leader and innovator in digital, media and enterprise clusters.”

Michael Ingall, owner and chief executive of Allied London, added: “Enterprise City is a concept Allied London has envisioned from scratch.

“Within 18 months we have created something of significant value and importance for both Manchester’s business community and the wider North West region.

“The transformation, re-adaption of old disused commercial buildings and a dynamic masterplan for new buildings was the catalyst for creating a new enterprise community for use by today’s modern industry.

“We are very grateful to the team at Shoosmiths for all of their hard work in helping this exciting partnership come to fruition.”

Manchester City Council approved planning permission for the old Granada Studio development in May.

The revised application supported Allied London’s proposals to retain and refurbish the original site, as well as incorporating new workspace elements.

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