Property briefs: Gresham House in St Helens, plus Colliers data and Ask’s Eden Square

LONDON property invester Gresham House has won planning consent for a 70,000 sq ft supermarket and petrol station in Earlestown, St Helens.  

The group said its proposals include a “major package” of planned improvements to regenerate Earlestown town centre.

Gresham property director John Lorimer said: “Gresham House knows that this is an excellent site, will help regenerate Earlestown and will create hundreds of jobs for the local area. We are proud to be bringing forward this opportunity.  

“Joint agents GVA and Cheetham & Mortimer are progressing discussions with potential operators for the store on our behalf”

Chris Argent, an Associate at GVA, said: “The proposals will deliver significant regeneration benefits to the town by addressing the long standing deficiency in provision and will draw back local residents presently shopping in surrounding centres.  

“The fact that there was only one local resident representation is testament to the transparent approach adopted by the consultancy team.”

::

GRADE A office space availability in the city centre of Manchester has fallen by 54% over the past two years and by 8% in 2012, according to research from Colliers International.

It said further take-up of refurbished space is being restricted by the release of poorer quality Grade B space – raising overall vacancy rates.

In the first half of 2012, 311,024 sq ft of office space was let, with Grade A deals accounting for 19%. This compared to 35% in the second half of 2011 and 30% for the whole of 2011.

Collier believes that shortages of Grade A space may force some occupiers out of the city centre.

Overall vacant office space in the city centre stands at 16.8%, according to the agent, a modest quarterly increase.

Collier said second quarter of 2012 saw a small rise in the overall availability of office space in Manchester – the first such rise since mid-2009.

This was because of a 16% increase in Grade B non-refurbished office space. This class now represents 27% of all office space compared to 22% at the end of 2008.

Colliers expects average rental growth to remain static in 2012 but start to increase next year. It is forecasting headline rents will reach £31.50 per sq ft by 2014, but with incentives on offer.

Rupert Barron, director, offices national at Colliers in Manchester, said: “All of this data will hopefully prompt renewed investor/developer interest to deliver the next generation of major schemes to continue the growth of the second city.”

::

SUPERMARKET chain Aldi is opening at Eden Square in Urmston next week.

The group has taken 16,000 sq ft at the Ask Developments scheme.

Ask’s development director Leon Guyett said: “The opening of the Aldi store will make a fantastic addition both to Eden Square and the wider shopping offering in Urmston, and we are delighted that we were able to include Aldi in our phase two scheme.

“Eden Square has successfully brought a number of national retailers to Urmston, and we are looking forward to further store openings in the coming months.”