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Manchester city council softens its Quay Street stance |
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Monday, 04 June 2007 |
Time, it seems, is healing sores at the Town Hall in Manchester. The initial anger and amazement when the BBC decided in favour of Salford Quays as its preferred location for its ‘Move North’ – rather than the apparent favourite location close to the Beeb’s current base in Manchester - is mellowing fast.
The subsequent possibility that ITV might shift its 1,000 Granada jobs a mile and a half away to Salford proved a move too far for Town Hall bosses and the call went up – they shall not pass – or relocate.
 Bernstein
But what is also helping to soften the blow is the remarkable success that is Spinningfields, the Allied London development on 25 acres of land nestling between Deansgate, the Irwell and ITV’s 30 acre Quay St site.
By September 2008, Allied London will have built 3m sq ft of new, grade A office space at Spinningfields, of which – currently – only 250,000 sq ft remains unlet. This has happened within just six years of the first brick being laid.
Plans for the final 1.5m sq ft are now in hand.
 Spinningfields
The take-up of space has taken everybody by surprise and the potential to add a further 25 to 30 acres of equally prime land to the success that is Spinningfields, is reassuring Town Hall minds. In fact, the Quay St site is regarded as more valuable given it offers much more waterfront space than the current Spinningfields offering.
ITV has narrowed the choice of developers to four in the competition to see who does what to its 30 acre Quay Street site. A decision on the preferred developer is expected by the end of summer and ITV has said it would like all the legals completed by the end of the year.
Allied London, one of the four preferred bidders, plans to put up 1m sq ft of new commercial space, 1m sq ft of new housing and 500,000 sq ft of new office and production space for the existing 1,000 GTV staff. The 1m sq ft of residential would amount to around 1,500 houses and flats.
New ITV boss, Michael Grade, is hungry for cash to invest in network production, a relief for ITV staffers after the cost-cutting Allen years, and the Quay St freehold, is one of ITV’s most valuable jewels.
Should ITV decide to relocate to mediacity:uk, the commercial heart of the redevelopment at the site would increase substantially again. Manchester council knows it really can’t lose either way.
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