Stockport sorting office sold to GMPVF

The Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund has acquired the former Royal Mail sorting office on Wellington Road South from the Royal Mail Group to make way for a hotel and office development.

The former sorting office occupies a prominent position along the A6 adjacent to Stockport mainline railway station. The existing buildings will be demolished to make way for the development. The acquisition includes a 0.22-acre surface car park along Wellington Street.

Aoife McEvoy of GVA Grimley, fund manager to GMPVF, commented: "This is an excellent opportunity for the GMPVF to invest in the continued regeneration of Stockport town centre, bringing forward an exciting new mixed use scheme and raising the bar for Stockport by improving the offer in terms of high quality hotel and office accommodation."

Cllr Kieran Quinn, chairman of Greater Manchester Pension Fund, which contains the property fund, added: "The Fund is looking forward to working with Stockport on making this development a success that satisfies GMPVF's twin aims of generating commercial returns and helping economic regeneration."

Cllr Dave Goddard, leader of Stockport Council, added: "We have been working hard to attract new office developments to the borough, following a study last year which highlighted Stockport's huge potential in this area. We are now seeing some major progress, including this new development from Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund, as well as BAM's St Peter's Square also on the A6, which has attracted BSkyB to bring 500 new jobs to Stockport."

The GMPVF has a financial allocation of £200m to acquire development opportunities throughout the North West. It is actively seeking development opportunities to take advantage of its position in the current market. The acquisition of this development opportunity is in addition to a number of other recent purchases, including a 12.5-acre development site along Calver Road, Warrington and a 0.3-acre site in Liverpool city centre. The GMPVF also recently announced the sale of Kings Point to Oldham Sixth Form College.

DTZ acted for the Royal Mail Group in the disposal, whilst the GMPVF was represented by GVA Grimley.