GMPVF tries Island life
THE Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund (GMPVF) has bought the ‘Island’ site in Manchester city centre.
The site consists of three buildings – Grange House, 5 Ridgefield and Old Colony House – flanked by St James’s Square, South King St and John Dalton St – containing 55,000 sq ft of space including ground floor restaurants Grill on the Alley (pictured), Pizza Express and San Rocco.
The fund is planning a redevelopment of the properties, which has several tenants on upper-floor levels on short-term leases.
The site had been owned by a consortium led by Bluemantle which had proposed a redevelopment, but it was placed on the market earlier this year with a guide price of £8.25m. It had previously been owned by property developer Nabeel Chowdery, who was made bankrupt last year.
Aoife McEvoy of GVA, fund manager to GMPVF, said: “The Island site represents an exciting opportunity for GMPVF to redevelop these prominently-located buildings.
“It is a great medium term redevelopment opportunity, which demonstrates GMPVF’s continued appetite for quality investment in the city centre.
“We look forward to progressing the proposals for the site over the coming months and will be appointing a design team in due course.”
Cllr Kieran Quinn, chair of Greater Manchester Pension Fund and Executive Leader of Tameside MBC, added: “It’s a really exciting time for GMPVF, with the redevelopment of One St Peters Square underway and most recently, the Island site acquisition.
“Both demonstrate the fund’s commitment to development projects in Manchester for both the immediate and long term future.
“With a financial allocation of £300m to undertake direct development in the region, GMPVF is in a prime position to take advantage of the current economic climate.”
