Umbro quits Cheadle as leases sold
SPORTS brand Umbro has ended its association with Cheadle, with the remaining staff moving to central Manchester.
Property consultant DTZ said it had sold leases on two former Umbro properties at Cheadle Royal on behalf of Nike, which sold Umbro to the US-based Iconix Brand Group in a £140m deal last October.
Until November Umbro employed 190 people across the Cheadle offices and one in Manchester’s Dale Street. The last staff left Cheadle at the end of May and just 40 are employed at Dale Street.
DTZ said construction group Balfour Beatty has taken on 37,500 sq ft at Lakeside 5000 at Cheadle Royal, while the 31,000 sq ft Lakeside 5400 has been surrendered to the landlord, Orchard Street Investment Management. Iconix has agreed to take on the lease for an 18,000 sq ft office at Dale Street.
Nike bought Umbro in 2008 for £285m and controversially kept Umbro’s most popular replica shirt deals, with England and Manchester City, out of the sale to Iconix. The company was founded in Wilmslow in 1924 and moved to Cheadle around 10 years ago.
Rob Yates, office agency director at DTZ, said: “This needed a lot of hard work and determination by all involved but the result was worth the effort for our client. This is a positive reflection on the state of the market and emphasises the shortage of quality product of a certain size in south Manchester.”
Knight Frank advised Balfour Beatty and Andrew Timms of Edwards & Co represented Orchard Street.
