‘Lexi Towers’ site sold by administrators
A PRIME Manchester development site, once held by the failed property group Lexi Holdings, has been sold by administrators handling the case.
The plot is on the corner of Piccadilly and Lever Street and incorporates a listed Georgian building at number 47 and a cleared area at numbers 43 and 45 which was once a shop.
In 2006 Manchester City Council granted planning permission for an eight-storey, 26,300 sq ft mixed-use block designed by Manchester architecture firm Hodder+Partners, pictured below.
Lexi was a property lender which collapsed in October 2006 with debts of more than £100m, weeks after managing director Shaid Luqman – once an award-winning entrepreneur and a frequent member of national newspaper Rich Lists – was banned from acting as a company director for a maximum of 15 years for his conduct in running another business, Modern Living UK.
In a 2005 interview with The Times Mr Luqman said the Piccadilly block would be known as Lexi Towers.
The latest progress report by administrators Richard Fleming and Brian Green of KPMG says a sale has been agreed on the site and should complete on November 29. It does not disclose the value of the site or the buyer.
The administrators could not be reached for comment about the site, and neither
could the agent Eddisons.
KPMG’s report shows that in the six years the firm has been on the case it has realised assets and recovered cash worth £41.4m – with £6.7m coming from negligence claims against Lexi’s former advisers.
But this work has cost £27.5m including £7.7m in KPMG fees. Lawyers have also done well out of the case, charging £8.5m in fees.
