Hong Kong property company Peterson Group has announced it is pumping £300m into Manchester’s Great Northern Warehouse — less than 48 hours after it took full control of the historic site.
The eight year project, in partnership with London-based Trilogy Property, will see the Grade II listed building on the corner of Deansgate and Peter Street transformed into 780,000 sq ft of offices, restaurants, shops, a cinema and residential apartments.
“The Great Northern Warehouse provides an opportunity to create a landmark in core Manchester that combines heritage and creativity,” Peterson Group managing director, Tony Yeung told the Manchester Evening News.
“By creating a world class destination for employment, leisure and high quality city centre living we believe we will enhance Manchester’s recognised competitiveness both nationally and internationally.”
He added: “Peterson is looking to make a long term commitment to Manchester and its role as a Northern Powerhouse city, through our investment in the transformation of the Great Northern Warehouse.”
Two years ago the asset manager, Capital & Regional, sold the warehouse site to Resolution Property for £71.1m. Peterson was a one-third co-investor with Resolution. On Thursday last week the Far East company confirmed it had acquired full control of the 375,000 sq ft Great Northern Warehouse, currently home to a cinema, gym, the 235 Casino, several bars, restaurants and retail units, and a business hub.
Both partners consider Manchester a priority for inward investment. They will now apply to the city council to incorporate the Great Northern scheme into the authority’s own city centre “Strategic Regeneration Framework”.
Robert Wolstenholme is managing director at Trilogy Property, a specialist in repositioning major property assets. “Our commitment to delivering this fully-funded project underlines our belief in Manchester’s prospects as a regional powerhouse economy in the context of the devolution agenda,” he said.
“The iconic buildings, the Deansgate address, great transport links and proximity to the city’s prime civic, office and hotel locations puts the Great Northern opportunity on a par with New York’s Soho or San Francisco’s South of Market district.”
Granted Grade II listed protection in the mid-1970s, the former Great Northern Railway goods warehouse was completed in 1898. At one time there was a dock beneath the building to allow materials to be transferred directly from the canal to the rail network.
