Property round-up: FI Real Estate; Bacup town centre; Blacks Business Brokers; DTZ Investors; Legacie; Blueoak; Venus
Cushman & Wakefield has been appointed by FI Real Estate Management (FIREM) to lease the largest and most prominent building at the Botany Bay Mill site in Chorley, Lancashire.
Block E, a 158,360 sq ft industrial and logistics hub based within Phase 1 of the new £220m 37-acre Botany Bay Business Park, is currently under construction and will be ready for occupation from Q1 2024.
Cushman & Wakefield, alongside DTRE and Rock Real Estate, will spearhead the marketing and leasing initiatives for the development on behalf of Chorley-based FIREM, the developer behind the project.
When complete, Botany Bay Business Park will provide just under one million sq ft of high quality industrial, warehousing, retail, and office space.
Laurence Davies, from Cushman & Wakefield’s North West logistics and industrial team, said: “We’re thrilled to be appointed by FIREM on this scheme. Botany Bay Business Park is an incredibly exciting new addition to Lancashire’s industrial landscape.
“Its location is unrivalled – with the M61 on your doorstep and at the heart of the nation’s motorway network. New warehouses of this quality and scale are exceptionally rare in Lancashire and it presents a significant opportunity for businesses looking to expand or establish their presence in a highly sought after industrial location.”
Tim Knowles, founder and managing director at FI Real Estate Management, said: “Our main aim with the scheme is to provide critically needed, premium industrial space for the North West market. We’re looking forward to speaking to prospective occupiers for Block E over the coming weeks.”
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Barclays Bank, Bacup
Demolition work on the former Barclays Bank building in Bacup is to begin on Monday, January 8.
The work will be the start of a transformation of Bacup town centre, and as part of the development the Bacup Market Area will undergo significant changes.
A new market hall with accompanying café and cycle hub earmarked for the Barclays Bank site will be a gateway into the new market.
The demolition of the three-storey building in Market Street, which is owned by Rossendale Borough Council, is expected to take around 10 weeks.
First part of the project, to be carried out by AW Demolition, of Manchester, will involve erecting safety hoarding and scaffolding around the site.
While the footpath in front of the building will be closed the council is working with the bus company and Lancashire County Council to relocate the bus stop which is presently sited immediately in front of the building. No traffic routes will be affected by the work.
The development of Bacup Market is being funded by the Capital Regeneration Project supported by the Levelling Up Fund.
A Rossendale Borough Council spokesperson said: “As part of this development, the Bacup Market Area will undergo significant changes, serving as a catalyst for increased investment in the town. During demolition the entire building will be encased on three sides with scaffolding as added protection, whilst the contractor works from a front elevation to gradually take down the building.
“Work will be carried out Monday to Friday during normal working hours and market traders should not be impacted during the period of demolition.”
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An award-winning cocktail bar in the fast-growing town of Westhoughton has been put on the market. The owner has engaged Bury-headquartered Blacks Business Brokers to find a new proprietor for the town centre venue, KOO, with a guide price of £79,995 to take over the business and leasehold premises, which incur annual rent of £7,020.
KOO, which is located on the town’s Market Street, was established in 2017, and taken over by the current ownership in 2019.
The bar specialises in affordable, seasonal cocktails but also serves gins, wines, spirits and beer. There is seating for 50 indoors, divided between a ground floor bar area and an upstairs function space. During the summer months it can accommodate a further 28 customers outdoors, in its enclosed rear beer garden and on its street-facing terrace.
The business, which will continue to operate as usual until a new owner is in place, employs six people, including the owner, who also manages the bar. It currently opens four nights a week and in its most recent financial year it turned over £182,000 with a healthy profit being made each year.
Megan Sutherst, deal executive at Blacks Business Brokers, said: “Westhoughton is fast becoming one of Greater Manchester’s food and drink hotspots, and KOO is a significant element of this growing scene.
“It is also worth pointing out that, while the business currently solely serves drinks, it has a five-star food hygiene rating and a new owner could potentially look to add some kind of food offering.”
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King Street
Majority stakeholder of Manchester’s most creative and culture-focused areas, DTZ Investors, has announced new lettings for King Street.
New lettings on the street included brands such as Gordon Ramsay’s highly anticipated, Lucky Cat, artisan bakery, GAIL’s, luxury nail care house, Townhouse, cycling giants, Rapha, and womenswear brand, Whistles. The latter chose Manchester as its first standalone store in the North.
Amongst the raft of national brand openings this year, King Street is also home to a unique retail mix with the addition of speciality stores such vintage football shirt hotspot, Stunner, and music artwork brand, Microdot.
Alongside the opening of new stores, DTZ has committed itself to the continuation of its wider ESG strategy, offering vacant units to well known brands such as popular menswear brand, ARNE, for pop-up usage.
The annual footfall figures for Manchester in 2023 were up 11% compared with 2022 (CityCo).
Thomas Royston, director at DTZ Investors, said: “It’s been another successful year on King Street as we’ve welcomed a range of high profile names to our roster. Seeing our ambitions from six years ago be met year on year is welcomed with delight, and we can’t wait to continue expanding our food, drink, and leisure offering in 2024.”
Jonathan Thompson, owner of Lyon Thompson Letts, said: “After another successful year, it’s no surprise that huge brands wanted to commit to King Street given its prime location and offering, which we look forward to expanding in the coming years.”
Several more lettings lie in the pipeline for the start of 2024, said DTZ Investors.
Lyon Thompson Letts and Orme are joint leasing agents on King Street.
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Breaking ground at The Gateway
Labour Party Shadow Transport Minister, and MP for Sefton Central, Bill Esterson, helped Legacie kick off construction at its £200m regeneration scheme on the edge of Liverpool city centre.
He assisted the Liverpool developer begin building work on ‘The Gateway’ site on Leeds Street, which will deliver 656 one-, two- and three-bedroom luxury residential apartments spread across four towers.
The project will sit within the emerging ‘Northern Quarter’ area which is next to the city’s central business district with impressive views of Liverpool’s waterfront and docklands.
The Leeds Street development will feature a state-of-the-art garden spa, complete with an infrared sauna, swimming pool, ice bath, oxygen chamber, and experience showers. There will also be two gyms, two resident lounges complete with a cinema room, landscaped gardens, coffee shop and convenience store and other commercial amenities.
The complex will be a similar scale to Legacie’s award-winning Parliament Square development, which is located on the edge of the Baltic Triangle.
Legacie’s proposals will help breathe new life into a site which has stood vacant for several years and forms part of its exciting expansion plan, with several high profile projects in the pipeline.
Meanwhile The Gateway will help create more than 250 local construction jobs and 25 apprenticeships.
Bill Esterson said: “I am very pleased to see the contribution being made to our country by businesses run by my constituents.Building new homes and creating jobs and training opportunities are the foundations for a stronger, more prosperous economy. Legacie and RWinvest is a powerful partnership and working at pace to deliver quality accommodation, not just in Liverpool, but across the UK.”
Legacie CEO, John Morley, said: “It was fantastic to welcome Bill Esterson to The Gateway as we officially begin work to bring forward three residential towers on the edge of Liverpool city centre.
“I am pleased that we have stepped forward with a scheme that will be a catalyst for further regeneration, provide an economic boost and deliver something the city can be proud of.”
International sales agent, RWinvest, has once again partnered with Legacie to promote the scheme.
Director at RWinvest, Michael Gledhill, said: “The Gateway will be a stunning addition to Liverpool’s buoyant housing offer. With world class facilities on-site, it will form a key part of the emerging Northern Quarter and help attract further investment as we continue to see huge demand for luxury living in the city.”
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Iain MacLean
Chester-based luxury housing developer, Blueoak Estates, is aiming to maintain its strong growth from 2023, with plans for a further 30% expansion in the new year.
The firm both started and completed work on several major schemes, handing over developments that have achieved off plan sales for the majority of homes.
Blueoak continues to deliver on its niche sector focus including the Rightsizer model, sustainable development and conversion of commercial into residential, largely within city or large town centre environments.
Blueoak is championing the path for conversion of often abandoned buildings and repurposing them for modern day use. More than 50% of its schemes to date support the Government’s bid to tackle, ‘embodied carbon’, a figure it aims to build further on in the future.
Managing director, Iain MacLean, said: “2023 has been a brilliant year for the company. We have identified our niche within a busy market place and are focusing on our strengths, creating quality high end homes that meet the needs of today’s homeowner, whilst considering future needs in terms of practicality, quality, sustainability and design.
“We have been involved in a number of both interesting and unique schemes and are proud of our commitment in driving these forward, contributing positively to the communities and environments in which we operate. The prospect of next year is particularly exciting and we are in the development and planning stages of some truly incredible projects, further details of which will be revealed in 2024.”
This year, Blueoak completed work at the iconic Christleton Hall, that saw the sensitive and painstaking conversion of the iconic 300-year-old, Grade II-listed hall in Chester.
Tollemache Green, an award-winning housing development in semi-rural Cheshire, is also complete, laying the foundations for a new community centred around sustainable living. Alexander House, a substantial 10-storey commercial building located in Trafford Park, was also transformed from commercial to residential and sold in record time, alongside additional developments in Chester and Hoylake.
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Community Health & Eyecare, one of the largest providers of community-based ophthalmology services in the UK, will use the 5,180 sq ft ground floor suite as a working optometrist practice upon completion of their fit-out.
Venus is a Grade A office building set across eight floors, Venus is also home to occupiers including SPIE, Capita Business Services and Peel Waters themselves. Located in the heart of TraffordCity, which attracts 44 million visits a year, the property is within walking distance of the Trafford Centre and the exciting leisure destinations of the Chill Factore indoor ski slope and iFLY indoor skydiving.
