Stocktons furniture shop earmarked for housing
The family-owned retailer wants to relocate and has appointed consultants to sell its 50,000 sq ft showroom on Manchester’s Great Ancoats Street to a developer to bring forward a project likely to be residential.
Stocktons Furniture has appointed agents McLoone Property and Ken Bishop Consulting to explore opportunities to redevelop the one-acre site next to developer Property Alliance Group’s 32-storey Oxygen development and opposite the council-owned Central Retail Park.
Ken Bishop, principal of Ken Bishop Consulting, told Place North West that discussions with several developers were at an early stage and that any future project would probably include a residential tower on the corner of Great Ancoats Street and Store Street.
The current owner is unlikely to seek planning consent before any sale takes place, so the future buyer is expected to lead on submitting an application itself.
Stocktons has yet to select a new premises for the showroom but the company is seeking a “more functional retail space with warehousing”, according to Bishop.
Consultations have taken place with the local council to determine the development potential of the site in line with the Piccadilly Strategic Regeneration Framework that governs planning policy for the city centre district.
The Stocktons site is part of the emerging Piccadilly East area, home to several pipeline residential developments including Olympian Homes’ The Fairfax, a 488-apartment complex that won planning approval in January, and Islington Wharf, plans for the final phase of which were submitted in April by developer Waterside places.
