Funding deal for Altrincham Regent Road apartments

Citybranch has secured £13m from the Greater Manchester Housing Investment Fund to bring forward its redevelopment of Altrincham’s Regent Road car park, featuring 70 apartments alongside retail and commercial.

The Altrincham-based developer and architect Project3’s proposals include 70 apartments across two five-storey blocks, with a mix of apartment types; 34 of these are expected to be pre-sold to a registered provider.

These will replace the existing 147-space car park on the site, while the existing public toilets on the site will be demolished. Neighbouring buildings, including Thai restaurant Phanthong, will be retained.

A replacement multi-storey car park of 300 spaces will be brought forward in a five-storey building, to be operated by Trafford Council with vehicular access via New Street.

At a meeting last Friday, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority agreed a £12.9m loan to Citybranch to bring forward the scheme, which will be delivered by a special purpose vehicle established by the developer.

The scheme received planning permission from Trafford Council around 12 months ago; this included a Section 106 contribution of £250,000 towards public realm works and a £320,000 Community Infrastructure Levy.

Alongside the apartments, there will also be 9,500 sq ft of retail, café, restaurant or commercial space on the ground floor of both blocks, fronting Regent Road, New Street, and a new public square.

The public square and improvements to the site’s Regent Road frontage have been designed to increase permeability with the surrounding town centre, and according to the architect, “the overall quality” of the square will be similar to Goose Green, another of the town’s public squares.

The proposals also include improvements to Railway Street to increase access to the new development and to Altrincham Hospital.

The professional team on the project also includes landscape architect Planit-IE and Civic Engineers.