Morgan Leahy property investment group
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- September 2007 - Barton Arcade is to be reborn - as a style junkie's paradise.
- January 2007 - Morgan Leahy Property Investment Group now own Barton Arcade, Manchester
- December 12th 2006 - Official Launch of the 9 story Bauhaus development in the Bauhaus
- November 7th 2006 - Irwin makes new home in Bauhaus
- November 7th 2006 - Irwin Mitchell arrive at Bauhaus, Manchester
- July 2nd 2006 - Morgan Leahy Property Investment Group entertaining the Bauhaus project team in the Derby Pavillion at the Budweiser Irish Derby Festival 2006
- July 7th 2005 - Morgan Leahy Property Investment Group Press Release
- 22 March 2005 - £16m Bauhaus boost for Ask
- 29 April 2005 - BBC assembles team for Manchester move
- 24 March 2005 - Irish buy at Rossetti Place
- March 2005 - Morgan Leahy Property Investment Group has purchased Bauhaus Development, Manchester.
- March 2005 - The Body Shop, King Street, Manchester sold.
- March 2005 - The Body Shop, Newport, South Wales sold.
Arcade re-born in style
David Thame
8/10/2007
Barton Arcade is to be reborn - as a style junkie's paradise.
The grade II listed Victorian arcade at Deansgate - originally designed to look like Milan's famous fashion haunt, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele - is to be transformed into a magnet for trendy shoppers.
David Mallon, the Manchester designer behind the inconic Ringspun meanswear label, is to open a new store on the site. The 3,000 sq ft General Store will be the first of its kind.
Deals are close to being agreed with two other high-gloss retailers.
David Mallon started his clothing career with a small unit in Afflecks Palace in 1991. He started the Ringspun brand in 1995.
After period in Yorkshire, the label returned to Manchester in 1999. It has been associated with Northern Quarter fashion house, Red Inc.
Barton Arcade was bought earlier this year by Limerick-based investor Morgan Leahy in a £17m deal.
The building is being refurbished along with neighbouring Lancaster Buildings, also bought earlier this year by Mr Leahy, in a £12.7m deal with Manchester-based investor Nabeel Chowdry.
Remodel
The new owner has just won planning permission to remodel shop fronts and are now aiming the arcade at lifestyle and high-fashion retailers.
Chris Jones, partner at Manchester property investment specialists Christopher Dee, and a close adviser to Mr Leahy, said: "The Barton Arcade is a gem that has been left to rust for too long. It has been in the hands of institutional owners for ten years and needs some careful hands-on management, which is what we are trying to give it.
"We already have a 3,000 sq ft letting to General Store, and we have two others stores close tro deals. We are also talking to existing tenants about refreshing the entire arcade as we re-orient it towards the fashion market."
Office space at both Lancaster Buildings and Barton Arcade is also being refurbished.
A long lease, valued at around £2m, has been granted to Preston-based developer Marple Grove, which will refurbish around 13,000 sq ft of offices on the second and third floor at Lancaster Buildings.
Butterfield Architectural Design, which has been involved with designs for Barton Arcade, say that removing unsuitable 1970s shop fronts will reveal the arcade in its original glory.
January 2007 - Morgan Leahy Property Investment Group now own Barton Arcade, Manchester
December 12th 2006 - Official Launch of the 9 story Bauhaus development in the Bauhaus
Above, far left - Grahame Codd, Managing Partner of Irwin Mitchell - one of the largest legal firms in the UK with a staff of 2000
November 7th 2006 - Irwin makes new home in Bauhaus
Business PROFESSIONALS
Law firm Irwin Mitchell, which merged with Altrincham practice Alexander Harris earlier this year, has chosen Manchester's Bauhaus building for its new north west headquarters.
The personal injury and clinical negligence firm's 50-plus staff will occupy two of the eight storeys at the site in Rossetti Place, Quay street.
Grahame Codd, the Manchester office managing partner, said he was delighted to be part of the project.
Tim Newns, of inward investment agency MIDAS, said: "The decision by Irwin Mitchell to create a substantial presence in Manchester is further proof of the rapid growth of the legal market in the city and surrounding region."
November 7th 2006 - Irwin Mitchell arrive at Bauhaus, Manchester
Bauhaus has completed a letting of 11,886 sq ft (1,105m2) comprising the 7th & 8th floors to leading law firm Irwin Mitchell, one of the largest law firms in the UK with almost 2000 staff, who will use the building for their new Northern Headquarters.
The arrival of such a prestigious tenant demonstrates Bauhaus's undoubted qualities in terms of location and specification to provide a first class working environment
"Our move to the north west is of strategic importance for the firm, and our choice of new offices was crucial to our plans. In selecting new offices we wanted to provide a first-class working environment for our staff, whilst also ensuring that those offices were accessible to all our clients, many of whom are disabled. For this reason it was vitally important to ensure that we offered optimum access and facilities to met their special needs. We are delighted to be part of this prestigious development."
Grahame Codd, Managing Partner, Irwin Mitchell's Manchester Office
July 2nd 2006 - Morgan Leahy Property Investment Group entertaining the Bauhaus project team in the Derby Pavillion at the Budweiser Irish Derby Festival 2006
Above left to right - Stephen Cliff (Project Director), Peter Skelton (Letting Advisor), Morgan Leahy and Brian Byrne
July 7th 2005 - Morgan Leahy Property Investment Group Press Release
L-R: Sir Howard Bernstein (CEO Manchester City Council) and Morgan Leahy pictured at the launch of the Manchester City Re-Development Bauhaus Project.
Irish Property Group invest over €60 million in Manchester and Paris office space.
Busy times for Morgan Leahy Property Investment Group - having just launched a €47 million Manchester City Centre redevelopment project they have, this week, acquired 116 Rue du Faubourg Paris, a high-profile €13 million mid 19thC office building on one of the city's most exclusive streets.
While their new Paris property has an existing single tenant in Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, one of the world's most prestigious law firms producing an attractive yield of 5.7%, their Bauhaus office building goes to market at time of strong demand for Grade A office space in Manchester.
Due for completion in late spring 2006, Bauhaus at Rossetti Place occupies a trophy site within the €970 million Spinningfields business quarter and comprises a nine-storey tower of some 51,000 sq ft of offices, 65 apartments and Manchester's sole 5 star hotel, also Irish owned.
Central to the development of this office building, in what is one of the most dynamic new city centre business quarters of Europe, was an over-riding desire by the Group to create a building of major architectural and artistic vision. Using a combination of glass-walling technology with a precision steel structure the Morgan Leahy Property Investment Group is successfully creating an important Manchester landmark building - which is both flexible to the demands of current and future technologies, as well as being an inspiring and creative living and working space.
Morgan Leahy Property Investment Group offer discerning Irish investors excellent opportunities to participate in actively managed overseas syndicated commercial property investments. They employ an online marketing strategy which has so far been significant in reducing the time required to market their new syndicated investment opportunities. The Group is currently in negotiations to acquire other very exciting commercial property investments in Paris.
NOTE TO EDITOR
For further information or clarification on the above please contact:
Morgan Leahy, Morgan Leahy Property Investment Group
Link House, Dock Road, Limerick
Email info@morganleahy.com
See also: Bauhaus, Manchester and 116 Rue du Faubourg, CDB, Paris
22 March 2005 - £16m Bauhaus boost for Ask
HIGH RISER: Bauhaus
ASK and you shall be given, say Manchester property developers celebrating a £16m tax-busting deal.
Ask Developments and their partners Crosby Homes have sold their new office and residential scheme at Quay Street to Irish investors for £16m.
The sale was rushed through late last week to beat Gordon Brown's budget changes which imposed stamp duty on the sale of commercial property in central Manchester.
Irish investment company Summerise, led by Limerick based Morgan Leahy, has agreed to purchase the second phase of the Rossetti Place scheme, called Bauhaus.
The building is on Quay Street, Manchester, for a price reflecting an anticipated yield of 6.9 per cent. Bauhaus at Rossetti provides 50,900 sq ft of offices of the highest institutional specification including comfort cooling, raised floors and a stunning double height entrance hall.
On completion in late Spring 2006, the scheme will consist of a nine-storey tower clad in steel and glass, together with 65 luxury apartments, a boutique hotel and an attractive courtyard, which will link it with the first phase of Rossetti Place.
The building, offering 45 basement parking spaces, will be available to lease from 3,567 sq ft upwards. The quoting rent is £25 per sq ft with a charge of £3,000 per parking space.
The news comes two years after Crosby:Ask revealed it had sold the first phase of the scheme to German property investment company Oppenheim Immobilien KAG in a £17m deal.
Stephen Cliff, development executive at Ask Developments said: "This is a great deal for Crosby:Ask and we look forward to working with Summerise to achieve lettings in a market where there is little office supply."
Morgan Leahy commented: "We are delighted to be able to mark our entry into both the Manchester office investment market with this high quality, impressive development, which offers great potential."
Ask added: "In purchasing this speculative development, Summerise is demonstrating confidence in the region's lettings market with lettings now being handled by Lambert Smith Hampton and Dunlop Heywood Lorenz on Ask Development's and Summerise's behalf."
29 April 2005 - BBC assembles team for Manchester move
Broadcaster appoints LSH to find 500,000 sq ft for relocation
By Daniel Thomas
The BBC is pulling together a team of top property advisers to formulate options for its £600m relocation to Manchester.
The broadcaster has appointed the Manchester office of Lambert Smith Hampton to draw up a list of possible schemes in the city.
The BBC has also kicked off a search for a corporate financial adviser to draw up a list of financing options for the move. It has shortlisted six companies, believed to include Jones Lang LaSalle, Rothschilds and Ernst & Young.
The appointment of a financial adviser is key given the complexity of any move by a publicly funded body such as the BBC. The broadcaster will answer to the National Audit Office and is under pressure to make the move as cost-efficient as possible, making a straightforward leasehold or freehold unlikely.
The BBC is considering options such as a bond issue, similar to the deal it struck at White City in west London, in order to finance the Manchester development. At White City, Land Securities Trillium took ownership and management responsibility of the site for 30 years after paying the BBC £35m, and invested a further £220m in the development of the site.
In return, the BBC paid Trillium £35m a year to 2003, and £70m a year from 2003, for facilities management and development.
A BBC spokeswoman said: 'The BBC is undertaking a feasibility study into the proposed move. To assist with the study, a number of companies are providing professional advice in areas such as cost, site search and possible funding and procurement.'
The BBC plans to relocate several key departments from London, including sport, children's television and Radio 5 Live.
The BBC requires around 500,000 sq ft (46,450 sq m) for offices and studios. There are various options, including a merger of its estate with ITV, which is to sell the Granada building on Quay Street, a redevelopment of the existing BBC site on Oxford Road, or a move to developments such as Spinningfields and Argent's Piccadilly Place.
Manchester City Council and the Northwest Development Agency have taken an option on Bruntwood Estates' Armstrong House, off Oxford Road, at a cost of £400,000, in order to provide temporary space for the BBC should it be needed.
24 March 2005 - Irish buy at Rossetti Place
Irish investment company Summerise has bought Bauhaus, the second phase of the Rossetti Place scheme in Manchester, for around £16m, at an equivalent yield of 6.9%.
Summerise, headed by Limerick-based investor Morgan Leahy, has bought the scheme, on Quay Street, from a joint venture between Ask Developments and Crosby Homes.
Bauhaus is a speculative development, scheduled for completion next spring, which will comprise a nine-storey tower with 50,900 sq ft (4,730 sq m) of offices, 65 flats and a hotel. It also has 45 parking spaces.
March 2005 - Morgan Leahy Property Investment Group has purchased Bauhaus Development, Manchester.
March 2005 - The Body Shop, King Street, Manchester sold.
March 2005 - The Body Shop, Newport, South Wales sold.
Lancaster Buildings
Situated in the heart of Manchester's prime retail core at Deansgate, Lancaster Buildings is a prestigious landmark Victorian building.
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Barton Arcade
An exquisite Victorian shopping arcade in the heart of Manchester's retail core.
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Bauhaus, Manchester
An important real estate development in Manchester's thriving Spinningfields business district - one of the largest new city centre business quarters in Europe.
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