Grade A Alternative has confirmed it is the new owner of one of Manchester’s most iconic buildings. The serviced office provider completed the acquisition of St George’s House in June but has refused to say how much it paid for the Grade II listed property.
Since the sale — Grade A purchased the 50,000sq ft property from a company owned by recruitment company boss Ged Mason — the seven-storey building has undergone an extensive refurbishment.
Grade A, which also owns The Boardwalk on Manchester’s Little Peter Street, The Mission near Spinningfields, and Parsonage Chambers, is owned by Richard and Linzi Parkinson. “We are really excited to have acquired St George’s House. It is a building rich in character and history and just what we look for in all of our properties,” commented Richard Parkinson.
“We have completely renovated the building throughout to bring it in line with modern businesses requirements,” he added. “Like all our buildings, St George’s will offer growing businesses the chance to move away from serviced office space and give them the opportunity to inject their own personality into the office space to match their requirements.”
Not only is the 1909-completed St George’s House notable as being the first concrete-framed building erected in Manchester it is, arguably, one of its most historic.
Originally designed as a YMCA, complete with swimming pool on the roof and a running track on the top floor, it was built on the site of the 1817 Peterloo Massacre in which 15 people died and up to 700 others were injured when the cavalry charged a crowd of 70,000 protestors demanding the reform of parliamentary representation.
And during the demolition of a previous building on the site, workers unearthed the mummified body of Hannah Beswick, better known as the Manchester Mummy. A wealthy woman with a pathological fear of premature burial, her body was embalmed after her 1758 death and kept above ground to be periodically checked for signs of life.
Beswick’s mummified body was eventually bequeathed to the museum of the Manchester Natural History Society, where she was put on display. In 1868 Beswick was finally buried in an unmarked grave at Harpurhey Cemetery — how her body came to be in the cellars of the Peter Street property remains a mystery.
Among the existing St George’s House tenants are Pizza Express, Café Nero, AFL Architects and STA Travel. The asking price when it was first put on the market in June was £9m.
WHR Property Consultants has acted for the previous owners since they acquired the building in 2009 for £5m. “The property has performed exceptionally well under our client’s ownership, however, following the departure of one of the tenants earlier this year the owners decided to capitalise on the current demand for city centre opportunities when they received an approach off market,” said Dan Crossley for WHR.
“The building still holds excellent potential, with the opportunity for further value enhancement on the letting of this vacant space,” he added. “This deal was the result of a well-timed approach, which proved to be ideal for both the vendor and purchaser.”
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