Starwood Capital and Property Alliance Group Acquire Manchester Development Site
Main Photo: The site as is
Date: February 2021
Location: Deansgate, Central Manchester, England, UK
Name: Renaissance Manchester
No. of Keys: 206
Seller: Urban & Civic, who put the 1970s Marriott Renaissance Hotel on the market in February 2020, through Savills and JLL, six years after buying the 1.8-acre plot as part of a former West Properties portfolio. The council owns the freehold of the site, which is on a 125-year lease was held by Urban & Civic.
Buyer: US private equity firm Starwood Capital and local developer Property Alliance Group have acquired the Renaissance Manchester development site from Urban & Civic. The new joint venture has plans for a £200 million mixed-use scheme, including a new hotel, plus office, residential and car park elements.
The site is located on Deansgate in the centre of Manchester, adjacent to the city’s prime retail precinct, and currently features the closed 206-room hotel, an office building and a car park. More detailed plans for the redevelopment are expected to be announced in March 2021.
The prominent site houses the former Renaissance hotel with a basement car park, 26,700 sqf of offices, and a 399-space car park. It was announced in May 2020 that the hotel would close for good.
The plot was bought by Urban & Civic in 2014, along with a one-acre site on Princess Street which has since been developed with contractor Lendlease into Manchester New Square.
Founded by David Russell, CEO, Property Alliance Group is led by an established Manchester-based team of RICS qualified property professionals with many years’ combined experience across all real estate sectors in the local market. Alliance’s extensive portfolio is centred around Manchester and the North West but with a presence in many other towns and cities throughout the UK.
The 40-strong team has established a reputation for delivering high quality, landmark projects and achieving record rents, as well as successfully repositioning troubled assets working with the banks or private clients and for building strong tenant relationships, maintaining a consistently low void rate.
Since 2009, £43million of occupier-led developments have been completed, simultaneously Alliance has provided asset management advice to a number of banks. From 2011, Alliance has been involved in the management and sale of 64 assets at a value of £271m.
Timothy Abram, Vice President at Starwood Capital, said: “We have made several major investments in Manchester over the past decade and, following on from these successes, we are excited to have another opportunity to invest in the city. The redevelopment of this prime site has the potential to generate many economic benefits for Manchester and we hope this will be the first of many investments made through our new joint venture with Alliance.”
Alex Russell, Managing Director of Alliance, added: “We are delighted to announce the acquisition of the Renaissance Manchester site and our new partnership with Starwood Capital.
“Starwood Capital is a like-minded partner that shares our vision and commitment to deliver this development. Our complementary skill sets and combined real estate experience, including Starwood Capital’s unique hospitality track record, means we are well positioned to deliver a landmark scheme that will regenerate a key part of Manchester.
“We will now be working closely with Manchester City Council to develop our plans with the aim of presenting these over the coming months.”
The joint venture’s plans for the development will aim to reduce waste and emissions during the construction phase.
Mr Russell continued: “We are committed to helping make Manchester a zero-carbon city by 2038 and that will mean more environmentally-friendly construction practices across all our schemes, including the redevelopment of this site. We are developing a sustainable design and the majority of the existing building will be re-used or re-purposed.”
THPT Comment: Congrats to Property Alliance Group to partner up with US giant, Starwood Capital on this exciting project…Promises to be a real winner.
First Seen: Property Alliance press release
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