Adanola founder buys distinctive Northern Quarter office
Marlsbro House on Newton Street, recognisable for its chequerboard cladding, is the latest Manchester asset acquired by Hyrum Cook.
Cook, who founded sportswear brand Adanola, is in an acquisitive mood. The Northern Quarter office, previously owned by Boohoo, joins NOMA’s Dantzic – which is home to Adanola’s HQ – and Peter House on Oxford Street in the entrepreneur’s ALCO property portfolio.
Marlsbro House was put up for sale early last year by Boohoo with a guide price of £3.5m.
Edwards Property Consultants and Sixteen Real Estate were appointed to find a buyer.
Having acquired the building, Cook is seeking to action a package of remediation works including the removal of asbestos, for which he has sought listed building consent from Manchester City Council.
The site is located next to a site on Postal Street earmarked for 126 flats by This City, Manchester City Council’s housing delivery vehicle.
The buyer seeking Listed Building consent for the work sounds positive, given Boohoo tried to claim the building – Listed as recently as 2019 and in better condition than it looks from outside – was of limited heritage value and an ideal candidate for total redevelopment (as reported by PNW last January).
By Marlsbro Man
Let’s hope they reclad the dreadful looking chequerboard exterior of the building. It looks an absolute eyesore.
By Jrb
@jrb not every building in Manchester has to have shiny glass cladding – the chequerboard exterior of this building has character and is in keeping with the area.
By AncoatsMarco
@AncoatsMarco it’s grim…
By Cyril
Wow, if ever there was an acquisition with no coherent strategy and suspect this is it. Well done for spending money you’ll never see again!!! Why don’t entrepreneurs take care of their hard earned money instead of spending it on real estate with zero strategy!
By Anonymous
AncoatsMarco.
It doesn’t have to be clad in shiny glass cladding. I’ve seen the building up close plenty of times. It hasn’t got any character. It looks dreadful. A sympathetic reclad of the building is long over due.
By jrb
This building has been a blight on the area for too long.
By Anonymous
Fantastic news this block is going to be transformed! Superb location but currently an eyesore! Great for the NQ!
By Finally
By “in keeping with the area” I assume you mean the surface carparks next to it rather than the actual buildings?
By H
After seeing Marco defend this building’s appearance I can safely say I’ve now “seen everything..”
By Anonymous
@AncoatsMarco
The building certainly is not in keeping with the area, as shown in the image above, where the majority of buildings on Newton Street and side streets are predominantly red brick. Unless you mean the ground floor stucco on the opposite corners, perhaps these should be painted in a chequerboard pattern too?
By Edge
I think some excitable commenters are missing the point here. You would be hard-pressed to find anyone who likes the chequered cladding.
This isn’t the point. Marlsbro House is an extremely rare surviving C18 textile mill in decent condition inside, and more-or-less complete. The horrible 1960s cladding causes people to miss this although disguising it as a dull office block possibly saved it. It’s also probably why it was only listed as recently as 2019.
The big question will be whether the original red brickwork underneath is good enough to save, or it’s viable to do so.
Hopefully it will be a full external restoration, in which case there need be no further talk of cladding or fitting in.
By Town Clerk
Marlsbro House might be a bit like Marmite, but the Northern Quarter’s character is that it isn’t overly sanitised, which helps to contribute to its sense of place and culture.
Cleaning up buildings is one thing, but over-sanitising them and glossing over the cultural stains of a creative and independent area is quite another. It’d be a great shame for the Northern Quarter if everything was overclad and polished as it would kill off the vibe and ethos that made it popular after decades of decline in the first place.
Remember that only 30 years ago, no one would dare wait for a bus after 6pm on Newton Street and less than 500 people lived in the city centre. Buildings like this are what help to keep the area ‘cool’, for want of a better word.
It’s a shame the Sunshine Dance Studios left the building. It would be a great space for a major creative arts venue with performance venues & small affordable art sudios.
By Kreuzberg-On-Irwell
Re: cladding:
I concur with others here. I hope the fashion for metal and/ or chequerboard cladding fizzles out asap. It doesn’t stand the test of time compared to good brick or even good brick cladding …
By MrP
7:09 pm Anonymous: It is mostly Business Managers who waste other folks money. Business Entrepreneurs are a different breed: they are Wealth Creators, Managers are Wealth Extractors: “Big risks for the capital owners, big boni for me. Be an Executive Manager. No risk, loads of brass.”
By Anonymous
By James Yates