Manchester City Football Club’s Middle Eastern backers are in talks to fund a 7,000-home regeneration of the Eastlands area around the Etihad Stadium.
The council and UK Trade & Investment are attempting to orchestrate a £750m injection from Manchester City sponsor Etihad and owner Sheikh Mansour, deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, to revive the rundown area of the North West city.
The regeneration would cover up to 90 acres of undeveloped, underused and derelict industrial property on land between Manchester City’s stadium and the city centre.
A source said: “It is a rundown part of Manchester, it deserves to be linked up and it needs to be. It needs that entrepreneurial, philanthropic investor. This could see the area come forward more quickly than some might think.”
A phased development would see higher-density towers developed towards the city centre. The regeneration would feature a significant private rented element, as well as commercial and retail space.
Sites from the Homes & Communities Agency around Holt Town and the Greater Ancoats Corridor have been transferred to the council to be included in the regeneration.
These include a former textile quarter earmarked for 3,000 PRS homes. Further land parcels in the Lower Medlock Valley and Beswick could also be included.
A newly built Metrolink line through Holt Town has galvanised the scheme.
The regeneration talks are part of a wider drive by UKTI to attract overseas funding into the UK residential sector.
In November 2013, UKTI’s Regeneration Investment Organisation secured a £700m investment deal with Gatehouse Bank, delivered by Sigma Capital, for as many as 6,600 new privately rented homes, the first 2,000 of which will be in Liverpool and Greater Manchester.
A strategic regeneration framework for the Holt Town area, formerly known as the Bradford Road Triangle and considered the city’s “missing link”, was published in December 2013.
According to the most recent census in 2011, Manchester’s population is growing at 19% – three times the national average.
Manchester City FC is building a £120m training centre in the area, and has recently received planning permission to extend its stadium by a further 14,000 seats to a capacity of 61,000. A potential leisure project adjoining the stadium is also under consideration.
All parties declined to comment.
Chris.Berkin@estatesgazette.com
