Dublin Developer Makes £175M Build-To-Rent Bid For Manchester's Boddingtons Brewery
Dublin-based investor/developer Gavin Barry's Prosperity Capital Partners has submitted plans to Manchester City Council to build two apartment towers of 26 and 23 storeys on the former Boddingtons Brewery site at Dutton Street, Manchester.
The £175M build-to-rent scheme will include 556 apartments (of which 181 will be for sale) and 38K SF of commercial floor space, according to the application by Prosperity UX Manchester Developments, part of Barry's London, Dublin and Manchester group, Prosperity Capital Partners.
“We’re hoping for planning permission by the beginning of summer, and looking to get on-site towards the end of the year,” Barry said. “We have funding in place, subject to planning.”
“Boddingtons is an excellent site with regeneration sweeping around it, so it’s a natural progression of the city centre. We are looking at other Manchester opportunities, and wouldn’t rule it out completely. If something came up that fitted our model we’d probably go for it.”
Prosperity Capital is also considering further Dublin schemes.
“Dublin is a very interesting market. We’re looking at student accommodation and private rented sector. This is probably the most undersupplied market in the U.K. or Ireland, and we’re looking at a number of opportunities. Dublin is a market crying out for something similar to our proposals in Manchester, but it is difficult to get sites of that size," Barry said.
The Manchester scheme will not meet the 20% affordable housing target required by the city council, according to supporting paperwork.
"Core Strategy sets out a requirement for 20% Affordable Housing across the city for all sites over 0.3ha or 15 units. It is envisaged that 5% of new housing provision will be social or affordable rented and 15% will be intermediate housing, delivering affordable home ownership options," the report said.
The application, lodged 19 January, comes as Manchester City Council presses ahead with a new development framework for the surrounding Great Ducie Street area.
Assael Architecture and Deloitte Real Estate advised on the project, to be known as Old Brewery Gardens.
Prosperity Capital Partners is an integrated investment and development business with plans to deliver more than 10,000 new homes over the next decade across the UK and Ireland. In 2016, Prosperity Capital Partners won the Deal of the Year award at the East Midlands Property Awards for their Cathedral Court scheme in Derby, which was bought by Aviva.
