Muse keen to start on Chester business district
MUSE Developments is confident of making a start on the first phase of its 500,000 sq ft scheme in Chester within the next 12 months.
The Salford-based propertry developer won outline planning permission for the site next to the railway last month, along with detailed consent for the first building.
This will be a £20m six-storey, 70,000 sq ft office block. Muse will not start on site without a pre-let but development director Phil Mayall said there had been strong interest.
“We’ve got a good level of interest simply because there’s very little grade A space in Chester, and virtually no BREEAM-rated grade A stock.
“A lot of tenants migrate out to business parks or occupy existing 1970s buildings. There have been a good level of enquiries and we’re hopeful of securing enough interest to start on site in the next 12 months.”
Muse has bought a 3.5-acre site owned by Lloyds Banking Group which currently contains the Premier House building. The bank is consolidating staff at two nearby offices and Muse will eventually demolish Premier House, although it will not do this to make way for the first new building which will be built next door.
The development plan, which promises to attract 1,000 jobs to a new central business district, includes a further six office buildings and three residential blocks with 200 apartments fronting onto the Shropshire Union Canal.
On the other side of the canal Liverpool-based developer Neptune is converting Chester’s Shot Tower and lead works into 53 new apartments, leisure and retail facilities, and Waitrose is building a supermarket. Muse’s scheme will be complemented by new public realm works on the site of an existing car park.
Mr Mayall added: “Future development will depend on the market. If residential picks up and there’s demand there, then we’ll respond. We could do offices and residential at the same time because they have different markets, but it really depends on where the market goes. It’s a 10-year scheme so we’re in it for the long haul.”
