Cityheart steps up to rescue Stockport resi scheme
Cityheart has sealed a deal to acquire the 442-home Royal George Village, its second major residential scheme in Stockport town centre.
Cityheart secured the site following the withdrawal of previous developer Investar Property Group, which had originally been appointed as the developer in 2022.
A £9m brownfield grant from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority has been secured to support the delivery of the scheme which was previously part of the adjacent Stockport College campus.
Cityheart is now procuring a contracting partner for the first phase of the scheme and will commence demolition and construction works in mid December, the full scheme is scheduled for completion in 2026, two years later than first envisaged when Investar were granted planning permission.
Royal George Village is the largest purpose built apartment development in Stockport and has a GDV of £120m. Following the acquisition Cityheart made an immediate start on site with PP O’Connor commencing enabling works on the day the purchase completed.
The scheme is part of the 130-acre regeneration district Town Centre West, which is being driven forward by Stockport Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC).
Cityheart has recently topped out a 196 apartment scheme with joint venture partner Rise Homes at Stockport Interchange.
Jonny Wrigley, Cityheart director, said: “We have been keen to contribute further to the regeneration of Stockport and investing in Royal George Village provides the ideal opportunity to continue our relationship with the town.
“We have made an immediate start on site and will implement a rapid build programme to deliver these high quality new homes at Royal George Village which will be a key contributor to Stockport’s ongoing renaissance.”
Eamonn Boylan, interim chair of Stockport MDC said: “Delivering more, high quality homes for local people to live in the town centre is where true regeneration starts – we then start to see the positive impact on our high streets, in our retail centres, and we create a larger workforce which attracts businesses and drives forward the town’s prosperity.
“2023 has seen significant progress to Stockport’s £1billion town centre regeneration, and, as we look ahead to what is set to be a monumental year with the completion of a number of our landmark developments, we look forward to working with the team at Cityheart to deliver these essential new homes for Stockport.”
Original architects, DAY Architectural has been retained to work on the new scheme. Beyond Corporate has provided legal support during the acquisition.
Founded by Mark Macnamee, once of David McLean Developments the UK regional director of Equity Bank, Cityheart specialises in delivering public sector regeneration projects from its bases in Chester and Wilmslow and has projects worth over £570m in play and a further £550m in the pipeline.
