Manchester City Council is set to hand over a multi-storey car park and close a row of shops, including a Greggs and a barbers, in the hope of driving huge development in Deansgate. The multi-storey car park on King Street West, behind the iconic Kendals building, is set to be demolished if plans are passed by the council's executive committee, with proposals to turn it into an office block.
The demolition of this car park and ground floor retailers would facilitate the redevelopment of the site, according to a report by the council's strategic director, and will pave the way for the refurbishment of the adjacent grade II listed Kendals building, which currently has House of Fraser occupying it. Engagement with the retailers has been ongoing for some time, according to this report, with guidance being offered to them as to their next steps.
Plans were approved last year to transform the Kendals building into 'high end' offices with the car park to be turned into a 14-storey office block, along with improvements to the public realm. For this to go ahead the council will need to surrender the lease of the car park building, according to the report.
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The report states: "The surrender of the Council’s leasehold interest will act as a catalyst to the comprehensive refurbishment of an important heritage asset and contribute to delivering the regeneration aspirations." The report goes on to say that demolishing this building is the only "realistic intervention" for this building to modernise the area and 'diversify' the area to make it more sustainable.
This building and the Kendals building is owned by banking giant Investec, who don't believe that retail for the entirety of either buildings is viable in the long run. The ground floor of this and the Kendals building will be given over to retailers, however.
This project also aims to contribute to removing cars from the Deansgate area through the removal of the multi-storey car park and an improved public realm. The improvement of air quality with this development was also raised in the report.
The meeting is set to take place on November 16 and is recommended to surrender this lease for the developments to take place.
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