Negotiations drag on at Albany Crown site
NEGOTIATIONS over the sale of the former employment exchange site at Aytoun St in Manchester city centre are proving to be drawn out.
The site had previously belonged to Liverpool-based property development firm Albany Crown, which had planned to build an £80m, 44-storey tower designed by Manchester-based architect Ian Simpson which was set to contain a hotel and a suite of serviced offices.
However, the company was placed into administration in May 2010 after founder Chris Nisbet was declared bankrupt.
Documents filed by administrators from Deloitte’s Manchester-based restructuring unit back in December 2010 said that they had whittled an initial shortlist of six bidders down to their preferred choice, that the first draft of a sale agreement had been issued and that they were “actively working towards exchange”.
However, in its latest progress report filed earlier this month, the administrators state that its preferred bidder is still “carrying out due diligence on the development potential of the site”.
“Following completion of the due diligence, we intend to agree and exchange contracts on the sale of the property as soon as possible. Should this party fail to exchange within a reasonable time scale, the administrators may consider reopening discussions with alternate interested parties.”
The site is the only major asset the company owned, and since planning permission expired on Albany Crown’s tower plans its value is estimated to have plummeted to around £2m. It had been valued at £14.5m at the time Albany Crown received an initial development loan of around £7.25m from former funder Barclays in November 2005.
