De Niro’s Nobu inks deal for Salboy’s 76-storey Manchester skyscraper
Manchester’s tallest building will feature a high-end restaurant, 160-bed five-star hotel, and 452 luxury branded residences operated under the legendary American actor’s hospitality brand.
Part-owned by two-time Academy Award winner Robert De Niro, Nobu has opened 36 luxury hotels in cities around the world to date.
Soon, Manchester will be added to a list of destinations that includes Manila, Las Vegas, Barcelona, and many others after Salboy and Nobu struck a deal for the US hospitality business to add the 76-storey Viadux 2 to its portfolio.
Nobu Manchester will feature a hotel, the brand’s third in the UK and first outside London, and the UK’s first Nobu branded residences.
Nobu launched its first apartments in Los Cabos in 2023 and has other homes planned in cities including Cairo, Toronto, and Abu Dhabi.
The Manchester skyscraper will also feature a high-end restaurant, bringing “luxury hospitality and world-class dining to the heart of the city”, according to the team.
Plans for they SimpsonHaugh Architects-designed skyscraper were lodged last April. At that time, the scheme did not feature a hotel, however, Salboy then reworked the plans as talks with a global hotel chain reached an advanced stage, sparking speculation about who the operator might be.
The deal with Nobu, one of the largest of its kind ever inked in Manchester, is now complete.
“We are proud to include Manchester in our global collection, with its vibrant culture and growing global status,” said Trevor Horwell, chief executive of Nobu Hospitality.
“Strong partnerships are essential to our success, and with Salboy, [and co-founders] Fred Done, and Simon Ismail, we have the best-in-class partners with a solid reputation and a world-renowned vision.”
“Having grown up in the area, I am personally immensely proud of this project in a city that continues its evolution as a global destination for luxury hospitality. Manchester is home to world-class developments, a thriving culinary scene, and a growing demand for high-end lifestyle experiences.”
He added: “None of our locations are cookie cutter; we wholeheartedly embrace the spirit of each destination. We are delighted to be working with Salboy to blend the Nobu experience with the essence of Manchester.”
Nobu is the second high-end hotel operator Salboy has attracted to one of its schemes after W committed to opening a site at St Michael’s in 2023.
Salboy co-founder Fred Done said previous experiences at Nobu restaurants across the globe made him determined to bring the brand to Manchester.
“For decades, I’ve travelled extensively while growing my businesses and exploring a vast array of dining experiences,” he said. “Nobu has consistently set the benchmark for fine dining, offering impeccable cuisine and unparalleled hospitality wherever I go, whether in New York, Singapore, or soon in Manchester.
“I’m truly excited to welcome the Nobu team to Manchester. As a businessman, I understand why Robert De Niro and his partners chose to invest in Nobu. It is about more than just money; it is about bringing this level of class to Manchester and celebrating what it means for the city.”
Nobu started out as a single restaurant in Los Angeles run by chef Nobu Matsuhisa.
The company expanded with a second site in New York when De Niro and film producer Meir Teper invested in the business.
Today, the brand has more than 50 restaurants and 36 hotels around the world.
Salboy co-founder Simon Ismail said the £360m deal would take the city’s hospitality scene to “new heights”.
“Even if you haven’t dined at a Nobu restaurant, you have likely experienced dishes inspired by [Chef Nobu’s] innovations,” he said.
“As the original innovator in fine dining, chef Nobu popularised a blend of cuisines in exciting new ways, leaving a lasting influence on every modern restaurant you see today. We are excited to unveil plans for the UK’s first Nobu-branded residences and hotel, with this signature hospitality offering at its heart.”
Big leagues. This and St Michael’s are really raising the bar in the city and making it a global player once again. Well done to all involved.
By Bob
Can’t wait to open!
When will they open??
By Anonymous
Special.
By Anonymous
Raising the bar indeed ,quite literally. Interesting that the Beetham building that kick started Manchester’s tall Renaissance almost 20 years ago is shown in the background . I watched that being built from Grand Island and thought that’d be the tallest building in Manchester for decades much like the CIS before it. Kind of looks small now among the talls. Grand Island (now First st) has changed just a tad itself !
By Methuselah
How is it possible for “Manchester joining the big league blah blah blah….” when the pavements around the city centre are a broken mess? It’s high time the council put money aside to sort them out as most haven’t been redone since the 90s as it’s certainly not an acceptable streetscape – nevermind a premium one.
By Anonymous
Loos great, however I do wish we would have a bit more variety as every new building is square, boxy and checkerboard .
By JD
Wow, this is next level! Amazing news
By Steve
And we still can’t open up the old Theatre Royal
By Anonymous
When is this likely to be approved? Surely it can’t be too much longer now they’ve got the hotel operator confirmed.
By Liz
Wow. Get it through!
By Tom
Productivity is soaring in Manchester faster than anywhere in the country, The EY survey out yesterday that it will easily be the fastest growing large city over the next three years, everybody wants an office here, high earners are flocking here . These are great times for the city. All we need now is for Rachel Reeves to get her purse out ,and start giving us the infrastructure, all this effort warrants.
By Elephant
First class. Well done to Simon and Fred.
By Anonymous
That’s a real tallboy from Salboy!
By Giant Skyscraper Fan
SimpsonHaugh and Salboy. What a surprise!
By Unit
Manchester is a machine
By GET IN
Wow, another boring glass, boxed building. Too close to the city centre which will block out natural daylight, just another eyesore.
By Anonymous
How’s the consultation on the Ken Dodd tickling stick outside the Royal Court coming along? Just asking…
By Roy
Glad we have another Theatre Royal enthusiast in the comments..one day perhaps after St Michael’s. Will have to enjoy this for now though. Agree too about the street scape. It really does seem to be a malaise of many British cities some areas worse than others . Only the councils and the Government can fix that one and they seem neither willing nor able regardless of political hue.
By Anonymous
Surely blocking the views of neighboring towers and radically cutting their value is morally wrong. Surely those owners should be remibursed. Or is their loss in value deducted from the salaries and pensions of the council planners who approve this immorality`? Just wondering.
By Anonymous
They all look identical though.
By Anonymous
de niro lol
By Anonymous
Any affordable provision? 😂😂😂
By Bernard Fender
Brilliant news! The more we can do to expand the inequality gap the better.
By Ram Tailor
Who is going to live in this building though?
By Anonymous
How is the public consultations going on down the M62 LOL
By Anonymous
Wish they would push this tower up a little more to get it over the 250 metre 80 storeys mark
By GetItBuilt!
Funnily enough Bernard fender
…..there is!!!
By Anonymous
That’s absolutely priceless anonymous 1.22….
…when you buy a property…….you don’t buy the view…..do your research please
By Anonymous
You can see the next building from here.
By Stan Ogden
Another win for the rich
By Anonymous
Fail to see what’s global about Manchester, it’s a post industrial mill town that’s being pumped up to look like something it isn’t. The Cheshire luvvies will be pleased with another restaurant I suppose.
By Realist
Literally who is this for… The people of Manchester do not want, nor need this. The council can’t afford to rehouse refugees who’re camping down the road in Alberts’ Square. The Rent Crisis in Manchester is utterly abhorrent and crippling. Independent, home gown Mancunian businesses closing down left, right and centre. Growth is great, but this is vulgar excuse for evolution. Nobu, Salboy and De Niro alike are all definitely sitting outside the circle of trust with this one.
By Anonymous
Its a shame it looks similar to all the other towers in Manchester
By Kane
Anonymous 1.22pm. Thanks for giving me the best laugh I have had in a long time when reading the PNW comments.
By Anonymous
The buildings at the foot of the tower all date from the 90s – 2000 all are of very poor quality and should be replaced with top quality designs. The monolithic glass tower itself is too high in my opinion reinforces the sentiment of alienation.
By John
Its ashame this looks like all the other towers surrounding it
By Anonymous
Has it got planning permission ?
By Rodders
You will soon be able to see Manchester from the Liverpool waterfront soon it’s that flat !
By Anonymous
Wow, Manchester is in a different league now. You can tell things are going well when the witterers start moaning about affordable housing or how the rich are winning god bless em. Zero understanding and not an original thought between them!
By Anonymous
Another win for Manchester, rich or poor
By Anonymous
How many more Simpson-Hague monstrosities does the City of Manchester have to have inflicted on its skyline?
By Anonymous
They’re going up at a similar rate to the mills and factories 200 years ago.
By Luddite
Manchester is a working class area, it shouldn’t get things like this
By Jamie G
Isn’t there an even bigger one planned just across the Rd at the bottom of Regent road coming into the city centre from Salford ? The talls are getting very tall now . Some setback would be nice though, or a pediment or King Kong swinging from a radio mast…..yeah that last one.
By Sunov kong
I like it but couldn’t they just make it a turquoise checkerboard like everything else?
By Anonymous
As a Mancunian, I welcome this and other developments in the city centre. In the last 30 years Manchester has been transformed from a sad rundown post industrial city to a vibrant European city, I hope it continues for many more years to come.
By Anonymous
When will building start? There has been talk about this for years now and nothing has yet to materialse.
By Manchester City fan
The pavements definitely do need sorting looks horrendous, the pavements in London are so well done, where is all the tourist tax going? That should be used to do up all the pavements and add trees around too.
Also this tower need/ some more character at the top, they should have done some sort of slanted design rather than a boring flat top. If you’re wanting to attract the rich it would be good to make the exterior look exotic as well. Look at some designs in Singapore or Qatar. Not 1 skyscraper in Manchester has a non flat top.
By Anonymous
Manchester is poor and so nothing should be built here, leave that to hundreds of other cities around the world
By Leftie
And the Briton’s Protection on the door step for your Local !
By Brass Fender
tombstone city
By Crow
A cemetery with gravestones shaped like Manchester towers would be a very strange sight indeed. Imagine a tombstone shaped like Beetham Tower! Mad!!
By Anonymous
It really is making them jealous, poor souls!
By Anonymous
Manchester is claiming to be something it isn’t. It is neither Los Angeles nor Hong kong. I’m for redevelopment but this is not what the city needs. And the buildings in the area around the proposed development date back to the 90s and are in a sorry state. Manchester needs more high quality designed lodgings for the people of Manchester. I like skyscrapers but this is too show off too tall. Another very imposing and uninspiring phallic design from SH.
By John
Agree about the state of the pavements and it’s a comment that’s made repeatedly.
Any chance if a PNW article or question to the powers that be? This is such a basic form of infrastructure, I know money is tight but it’s also a case of political will. The council surely can’t be content to leave them as they are in a perpetual state of managed decline?
By Pavement watch