Construction underway at city centre apartment scheme

All 42 apartments sold off plan

Property Alliance Group has added its third crane to the Manchester skyline with construction of a new apartment scheme now well underway.

Located just off New York Street in Manchester city centre, Manhattan is a seven-storey development comprising 42 one and two-bedroom apartments, all of which have already been sold.

Designed by Cube Architecture in a New York loft style, each property features floor to ceiling windows and private terraces set into a multi-level garden wall. On the seventh floor, there are duplex penthouses offering views over King Street and across the city. The ground floor also offers 2,000 sq ft of retail space.

Will Clarke, Alliance’s project manager for Manhattan, said: “We’re replacing a 1970’s office block with luxury apartments offering residents high-spec finishes, a full concierge service and private terraces plus all of Manchester’s amenities right on their doorstep.

“Located directly opposite Chinatown, the scheme has a unique position in the city centre and been designed to offer a boutique feel.”

Manchester’s Russells Construction has been appointed main contractor for the project. The team has already demolished much of the existing 1970’s Devonshire House office block, and completed enabling works and foundations. With the crane in-situ, construction of the steel frame is also now underway.

The front façade and part of the original five-storey building is to be retained and enhanced, with slim profile window frames, Juliet balconies with glass balustrades to the front and full balconies at the rear. The red brick will be tinted blue to reference a more industrial feel, while a two-storey upwards extension will be finished in glass and copper panels, creating a fresh new New York look for the building.

Andrew Russell, director from Russells Construction which has nine current city centre schemes, said: “The design for Manhattan is fantastic, this project will totally transform the site and create an attractive modern apartment development. It’s another fairly complex scheme here in Manchester, with the retention of the façade, the tight footprint and limited accessibility all throwing up challenges. But, as most of our work over the last decade has been in the city centre, we’ve got all of the systems and processes in place to work around these constraints to consistently deliver projects on time and on budget for our clients.”

Manhattan is scheduled for completion in Q4 2019. It adds to two other major Alliance developments, which are rapidly taking shape in the city centre including residential scheme Axis Tower and 3 St Peter’s Square, a 20-storey building comprising a 328-bedroom Motel One on the ground floor and a 262-room Staycity Aparthotel above. Russells Construction is the main contractor for both.