Council pays Ask £12m for hotel/offices

Ask Developments has pre-sold two buildings at Knowsley Place in Bury to the local authority to enable work to start on site in the New Year.

The 25,000 sq ft office is pre-let to Six Town Housing and the 115-bed hotel to Whitbread's Premier Inn.

Cllr Bob Bibby, leader of Bury Council, said: "Bury Council has made a strategic decision to acquire the two buildings in phase two of Knowsley Place which will provide a new Premier Inn hotel for the town centre and a brand new office location for Six Town Housing. The acquisition of these buildings into our existing property portfolio is a good investment for the council over the next five years and will bring a much needed hotel to the town centre.

"Buildings one and two of phase one at Knowsley Place are already taking shape and due to be handed over in mid January. They form just one of the many projects underway, which are changing the heart of the town centre to create a brighter, bolder more ambitious Bury."

Bury is set top benefit from the opening of Thornfield's £350m retail and leisure scheme, The Rock, which opens next year. Property Alliance Group also has consent for an office park at Chamberhall on the edge of the town centre.

The first phase of Knowsley Place is currently on site and will deliver an NHS health centre, a 40,000 sq ft office for Bury Council and a new three-storey car park.

David Burkinshaw, director of Ask Developments, said: "The acquisition of phase two by Bury Council is great news for the development. That all four buildings in phases one and two are pre-let is demonstrative of the scheme's quality and location, and when complete, Knowsley Place will provide Bury with a vibrant new commercial centre. We're now looking forward to progressing with the final phase of office and residential accommodation at the development."

Phase two of Knowsley Place is set to be completed in April 2011.