Broad Street, Birmingham's Skyscraper Alley, Prepares For BTR Bounceback
A 200-metre running track is part of the super-sized amenity offer at Broad Street’s latest skyscraper.
The running track comes as part of 2020 Living’s proposals for a 35-storey tower as part of a 440-unit build-to-rent block at the Ryland Street/Grosvenor Street West/Broad Street site.
Broad Street is turning into Birmingham’s skyscraper alley. The latest plan follows 61-storey plans delivering 503 apartments at 100 Broad Street, a 37-storey tower of serviced apartments at 201 Broad Street, 17-storey plans for the Park Regis site where 228 flats are to be built, 42 storeys at 212-223 Broad Street where 481 units will rise into the sky, and 22 storeys at the junction with Sheepcote Street that will house another 189 apartments.
The amenity offer includes a roof terrace served by three high speed lifts and a dedicated clubroom. The gym will be 2.9K SF and come with two further workout studios.
Residents will have access to a cycle workshop and bike café including storage lockers, repair space and social spaces “to promote an active environment and a greener lifestyle,” a Cerda Planning statement submitted with the formal application said.
The running track will be outside in the courtyard where fitness-obsessed residents will find multifunction grass for more varied exertions.
Taylor Grange Developments, the business behind 2020 Living, is working on five other Birmingham schemes with a combined value of £500M, proving that at least one developer's BTR ambitions are undimmed.
Indeed, the Broad Street development was to have been appreciably more ambitious. Its first suggestion to planners had been for a 51-storey residential tower of 619 units. The idea was ditched when planners suggested it would be too intrusive.
The Broad Street renaissance comes as Birmingham BTR experiences the first economic downturn in its short but so far spectacular life.
“There are groups that are already participating, but there are other groups for whom how BTR and BTR platforms behave during this period will be really interesting,” Homes England Senior Director Jennifer Murray said at a Bisnow webinar on BTR After Lockdown presented with Pinsent Mason. “This could be the sector’s moment to make its case — in terms of being a responsible landlord, in terms of the quality of what is being built compared to build for sale, and also in terms of how the investment behaves."
The limited data available suggests BTR has weathered the coronavirus crisis with landlord Grainger saying it collected 94% of its rent in April.
