Stalled Manchester development acquired by Tri7
The site of a failed £125m apartment project has been purchased out of administration for £16m.
London-based real estate firm Tri7 has bought the Vision site on Whitworth Street West in Manchester after the vehicle delivering the development went bust.
Vision Manchester, the Paul Rothwell-owned SPV behind the 35-storey development, was placed into administration earlier this year after failing to keep up with loan repayments to Octopus.
Tri7 is hoping to succeed where others have failed and deliver on what is a prime city centre site.
Samuel Castle, partner at Tri7, said: “10-12 Whitworth Street West is in a prime location for new homes in the heart of Manchester city centre, and yet has remained vacant for years as a succession of developers and investors have been unable to make it viable.
“As an opportunistic investor with a bed-led strategy, and an asset manager adept at unlocking complex planning challenges, we’re looking forward to continuing to work closely with Manchester City Council and the community as a whole to transform this vacant site into new homes and a contributing part of Manchester’s economy.”
Tri7 has the option of delivering out the consented 327-apartment scheme or going in for a redesign.
The firm has an ongoing partnership with student developer Fusion that has seen the pair progress plans for purpose-built student accomodation in London, Leeds, and Loughborough.
The Vision site could present another opportunity for the parties to collaborate.
At £49k per plot, unfortunately I can assure Mr Castle at Tri7 that they won’t make it work either unless they pivot from Resi to PBSA. Suspect that would be an up-hill battle with MCC though…
By John W
Well it will be interesting to see if the Council supports this development being a PBSA led proposal – at £48k a plot it is clear that at that price they are not aiming their ambitions at build to rent or build for sale.
By Anonymous
let’s hope they go for a redesign
By Anonymous
What on earth does PBSA stand for?
By PBSA watch
Hi PBSA watch. It stands for purpose-built student accommodation.
By Julia Hatmaker
Way too tall for this site. They should have kept the nice brick building which was demolished here. Hope MCC don’t let the remaining buildings on this south side of the road go the same way.
By Faraday
All the usual suspects have run a mile, so Tri7 must be magicians as well as ‘bed-led’ -whatever that means
By Anonymous
Good luck building and servicing it from the new bus lane. Build a new Deansgate train station instead and stick a Greggs under it.
By Albert
“As an opportunistic investor with a bed-led strategy, and an asset manager adept at unlocking complex planning challenges, we’re looking forward to continuing to work closely with Manchester City Council…” has got to be one of the most comical sentences ever written in the english language. I read it in the voice of Bob Mortimers Train Guy. Would love him to read that sentence out.
By Blob