Amenity Gets Serious: The Manchester Office Block With A Spa, Screening Room And Scooters
Shouldn't every office building have a spa? Surely every tenant — sorry, every resident business — deserves access to a scooter?
Amenity is now a big selling point for Manchester office blocks: cool beers in the fridge, nice coffee and comfy chairs are basic must-haves, and even TV studios are cropping up as the city's office market dabbles in luxury. But one Manchester office landlord has gone a step further.
The offering at LJ Partnership's 72K SF Canada House, Chepstow Street, now stretches to a spa, a gym and a swimming pool, a screening room (with cinema seating), a sound system that extends to the toilets, and scooters available to help occupants get to meetings, or just get some fresh air.
The £3M refurbishment of Canada House by LJ Partnership is now reaching completion after 14 months. LJ, which owns a 170K SF portfolio around Albert Square, branched out towards Chepstow Street in October 2016 paying a reported £10.5M for the historic block.
Occupiers now include Puma, who have 14K SF on the fifth and sixth floors.
"Amenity is more important than ever," LJ Real Estate Advisors Managing Director Sam Lawson Johnston said. "Our highest priority is our tenants, or resident businesses as we call them."
"We would love to find another Canada House in Manchester — but we haven't found it yet. Our main focus now is in hunting for properties in Birmingham, Bristol and Leeds — Birmingham is looking good, and if we could find 50K SF we'd be pleased."
