Northern Property Markets Remain Strong Despite Post-Brexit Uncertainty
Earlier this year Leeds-based TCS began the delivery of a number of large development projects and in a clear sign of confidence for the commercial and residential markets the company continues to add new projects to this extensive pipeline.
Property investment and development company Town Centre Securities (TCS) is driving forward with its largest development programme in almost 50 years.
“It is clear that despite increased uncertainty in the wider economy following the UK’s vote to exit the European Union there are also opportunities. Town Centre Securities is a vastly experienced property investment and development company, and our ongoing strategy to recycle capital and dispose of investments where our asset management initiatives have been concluded, has placed us in a positive cash position to invest further and bring forward developments in our desired locations of Leeds, Manchester and London where we see opportunities to add both rental and capital value.”
– Edward Ziff, Chief Executive and Chairman of Town Centre Securities
Developments that TCS is currently on site with include a 136-bedroom Premier Inn Hotel at Whitehall Riverside in Leeds, and refurbishment of Merrion House offices at the Merrion Centre in Leeds, which consists of refurbishment and development of offices and a one stop shop in partnership with Leeds City Council totalling approximately 170,000 sq ft when complete in early 2018. Development also continues in the Merrion Centre with a new 134 bedroom Ibis Styles hotel and Marco Pierre White restaurant scheduled for completion in the first half of 2017.
In Manchester a development agreement has been signed to bring forward the Brownsfield Mill site which forms part of TCS’s redevelopment plans for the Piccadilly Basin. The company has exchanged contracts with Urban Splash, the regeneration company, which will bring Brownsfield Mill back into use in a scheme that will create some of the largest apartments in Manchester.
Tom Bloxham, Chairman and Co-Founder of Urban Splash says, “We are delighted to be working in Partnership with TCS on the conversion of Brownsfield Mill in Piccadilly Basin. It is a great canal side Victorian building and we are looking forward to developing it into some of Manchester’s biggest and best loft apartments. It’s great to be back in the Northern Quarter continuing its redevelopment that we helped to kick start 20 years ago”.
Elsewhere in Manchester, a development agreement has also been signed with Belgravia Living Group to develop out the 91 apartment scheme on Tariff Street.
David Shann, finance director for Belgravia Living Group, said: “We are delighted to be working with Town Centre Securities on this prestigious scheme. We remain confident in the strong residential market within Manchester and will be breaking ground on site shortly with expected completion in approximately 18 months’ time.”
Allied to this development programme, TCS’s existing portfolio is enjoying ongoing success. The Merrion Centre, the group’s single largest asset, saw a 9.4% increase in footfall to 812,766 shoppers in July. The shopping centre is also soon to welcome a sizeable Heron Frozen Foods within the main mall as the chain expands further into Leeds from its Hull base.
Edward Ziff added: “Since the development of the Merrion Centre in the 1960s, Town Centre Securities has been a market leader in creative and sustainable property development. This extensive development programme, the biggest that TCS has had ongoing in recent times, continues this trend and we are delighted with our outlook in the context of the Brexit landscape.”