Land Securities to target new tenants for Printworks
LAND Securities is planning to bring in new tenants at the Printworks in Manchester to make it “more attractive”.
The property giant acquired the 365,000 sq ft site yesterday for £94m from Resolution Property, a US-backed investment firm.
It is home is home to an Imax Cinema, a Virgin Active gym, and a number of bars, restaurants and nightclubs including Tiger Tiger and Entourage.
A spokesman for Land Securities said: “We don’t like holding assets just for the sake of holding them, Our view is if we’ve got assets we should have plans as to how we’re going to improve them. That doesn’t mean a major expansion, but asset management – bringing new occupiers in to make it more attractive to customers.
“We really like the asset and its role in Manchester as a dominant leaisure scheme so our plan will be to work with the existing asset to try and make improvements to it over time.”
The Printworks attracted more than nine million visitors in 2011 and is currently 93%.
The Printworks was originally erected as Withy Grove Printing House in 1873. It ran successfully as a newspaper printer for over 100 years producing publications such as the Manchester Evening Chronicle, News of the World and the Daily Mirror until it was closed in 1985.
The site stood derelict until 2000 when it reopened as a leisure venue after a £150m redevelopment. The complex was acquired for £100m in 2008 by Resolution, an investment firm backed by US Ivy League universities as well as pension funds and private equity investors, from its previous joint-owners British Airways Pension Trustees and a Pearl Group-managed fund.
