New developments in Manchester city centre

[jrb]

I spent almost 4 years on SSC MCR with almost nothing to post about during the last property crash. But I stuck it out and over the last 3 years it's been mental in Manchester. Still in the region.of 80 cranes on the skyline.

Yes, it's frustrating, but some concrete news will break eventually. Probably the arena first? Until then we'll just have to keep on discussing what if's. :-)

Picture's taken from the Colin Bell, level 3 spiral, on Saturday.

 

[Marvin]

I spent almost 4 years on SSC MCR with almost nothing to post about during the last property crash. But I stuck it out and over the last 3 years it's been mental in Manchester. Still in the region.of 80 cranes on the skyline.

Yes, it's frustrating, but some concrete news will break eventually. Probably the arena first? Until then we'll just have to keep on discussing what if's. :-)

Picture's taken from the Colin Bell, level 3 spiral, on Saturday.

That skyline is crazy.

Do you know are skyscrapers a Manchester thing or is this happening in other regional cities too?

I have a feeling the property boom in pretty much a London and Manchester thing? Why Manchester? I can think of the Unis as one big factor. Any others?

Do you have a feel for the pipeline of future developments? I've seen them come in phases before. Are there a lot more plans in the pipeline?

I have noticed at night that some of the Deansgate Square towers are now lit up with lots of flat occupied and yet Deansgate at that end is still dead traffic-wise. I wonder what the impact of an increased City centre population will be in terms of traffic, and leisure, services, etc. I use Great Northern Warehouse a lot and it always seems deserted and I wonder how the shops and businesses survive. There must be quite a few City centre businesses who are hoping that Deansgate Square will bring them more traffic. I have a feeling that although the City centre population is growing exponentially, the shoppers are declining exponentially. I suspect that there will be a big transfer from traditional retail to bars, restaurants, hotel and leisure.

 

[worsleyweb]

That skyline is crazy.

Do you know are skyscrapers a Manchester thing or is this happening in other regional cities too?

I have a feeling the property boom in pretty much a London and Manchester thing? Why Manchester? I can think of the Unis as one big factor. Any others?

Do you have a feel for the pipeline of future developments? I've seen them come in phases before. Are there a lot more plans in the pipeline?

I have noticed at night that some of the Deansgate Square towers are now lit up with lots of flat occupied and yet Deansgate at that end is still dead traffic-wise. I wonder what the impact of an increased City centre population will be in terms of traffic, and leisure, services, etc. I use Great Northern Warehouse a lot and it always seems deserted and I wonder how the shops and businesses survive. There must be quite a few City centre businesses who are hoping that Deansgate Square will bring them more traffic. I have a feeling that although the City centre population is growing exponentially, the shoppers are declining exponentially. I suspect that there will be a big transfer from traditional retail to bars, restaurants, hotel and leisure.

300 flats allready rented in the west tower in deans gate square. The tallest tower ready next year early and 496 in that one.

 

[bluesmith]

That skyline is crazy.

Do you know are skyscrapers a Manchester thing or is this happening in other regional cities too?

I have a feeling the property boom in pretty much a London and Manchester thing? Why Manchester? I can think of the Unis as one big factor. Any others?

Do you have a feel for the pipeline of future developments? I've seen them come in phases before. Are there a lot more plans in the pipeline?

I have noticed at night that some of the Deansgate Square towers are now lit up with lots of flat occupied and yet Deansgate at that end is still dead traffic-wise. I wonder what the impact of an increased City centre population will be in terms of traffic, and leisure, services, etc. I use Great Northern Warehouse a lot and it always seems deserted and I wonder how the shops and businesses survive. There must be quite a few City centre businesses who are hoping that Deansgate Square will bring them more traffic. I have a feeling that although the City centre population is growing exponentially, the shoppers are declining exponentially. I suspect that there will be a big transfer from traditional retail to bars, restaurants, hotel and leisure.

Leeds is similar, Glasgow is too but a lot if that is uni work rather than resi. Birmingham looks to be the next one.

 

[toffee balls]

Will the cinema be a separate building or is it part of the arena development?

I heard 3 years for the arena if all goes to plan.

Not sure.
We haven’t seen any layouts as yet.

 

[jrb]

That skyline is crazy.

Do you know are skyscrapers a Manchester thing or is this happening in other regional cities too?

I have a feeling the property boom in pretty much a London and Manchester thing? Why Manchester? I can think of the Unis as one big factor. Any others?

Do you have a feel for the pipeline of future developments? I've seen them come in phases before. Are there a lot more plans in the pipeline?

I have noticed at night that some of the Deansgate Square towers are now lit up with lots of flat occupied and yet Deansgate at that end is still dead traffic-wise. I wonder what the impact of an increased City centre population will be in terms of traffic, and leisure, services, etc. I use Great Northern Warehouse a lot and it always seems deserted and I wonder how the shops and businesses survive. There must be quite a few City centre businesses who are hoping that Deansgate Square will bring them more traffic. I have a feeling that although the City centre population is growing exponentially, the shoppers are declining exponentially. I suspect that there will be a big transfer from traditional retail to bars, restaurants, hotel and leisure.

Birmingham is a having a smaller tower boom.

Leeds and Liverpool are putting up a couple of towers.

No other regional city comes close to the towers going up in Manchester.

There are plenty of other towers proposed that will start next year and beyond. The tower boom is far from over. PRS is huge in Manchester. Many of the PRS towers recently built are doing really well.

Why Manchester? Plenty of reasons. A very proactive city council that works with property developers. Manchester has some big property developers based in the city. Renaker, Bruntwood, Peel Holdings, Allied London, Ask, etc. Manchester is second only London for 1000’s of new tech and IT jobs, attracting young people to the city. A massive student population. Inward and foreign investment is pouring into the city. So are property investors due to the low pound. Etc.

The GNW is being redeveloped into offices, different leisure’s uses, and a possible tower at a later stage.

The retail to leisure has already started. The Corn Exchange being the obvious example. Spinningfields is an example where retail has failed. King Street is now retail and restaurants. Manchester’s retail core is defined around the Arndale, St Anne’s Square, and King Street. Bar the odd expansion in any direction, I can’t see the retail core expanding any further. It’s all leisure, leisure, and more leisure. Bars, Restaurants, etc are opening up all over the city centre.

Deansgate will get busier and busier once Deansgate Square, Elizabeth and Victoria, 2-4 Chester Road, Transition, and when other towers and Apartment blocks are built on the Great Jackson Street site.

In a nutshell, Manchester is booming and there is no sign that the boom is slowing down. :-)

 

[PannickAtTheDisco]

Leeds is similar, Glasgow is too but a lot if that is uni work rather than resi. Birmingham looks to be the next one.

Leeds is growing but the centre is better laid out and more spacious and they are building at a lower and similar level across large swathes of the city, Manchester just looks like a mess and at ground level is a mess.

 

[jrb]

Leeds is growing but the centre is better laid out and more spacious and they are building at a lower and similar level across large swathes of the city, Manchester just looks like a mess and at ground level is a mess.

Yes, Leeds has a more pedestrian friendly city centre, but it’s much smaller and less impressive architecturally than Manchester’s.. The new architecture in Leeds is pretty poor and bland. Outside the retail core, Leeds has plenty of underpasses and flyovers that criss-cross the city.

 

[blueloon]

On the whole Manchester looks to be booming. The X1 The Plaza apartment development on Every Street, close to Great Ancoats Street seems to have stalled. I wonder if there are other smaller scale developments in the East Manchester area that are on hold due to developers falling into financial trouble or them having issues with their subcontractors?

 

[PannickAtTheDisco]

Yes, Leeds has for a more pedestrian friendly city centre, but it’s much smaller and less impressive architecturally. The new architecture in Leeds is pretty poor and bland. Outside the retail core, Leeds has plenty of underpasses and flyovers that criss-cross the city.

Well I'm on about the centre which is nicer than Manchester's. Manchester is going up so fast but it has put zero investment into the ground, Leeds is a nicer size, nicer height, better spaced out and nicer to walk around. It has some similar societal problems to Manchester but to a lesser degree. Manchester's going Gotham.