GMPVF backs £75m First Street office

Patrizia Immobilien AG has formed a joint venture with Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund to forward fund the construction of a 173,600 sq ft office building at First Street, which has been partially pre-let to Gazprom.

Known as Number 8 First Street, the scheme is the first part of Patrizia’s planned 1m sq ft wider development at the 20-acre First Street site.

Gazprom has taken 39,570 sq ft of space in the seven-storey building, with a further option on 11,590 sq ft.

Designed by Fletcher Priest Architects, the block will total 187,600 sq ft of offices and 32,000 sq ft of retail units.

Carillion is the building contractor, with delivery expected in 2017.

GMPVF is a £400m property development fund for the North West. It forms part of the Greater Manchester Pension Fund, the largest local authority pension fund in England with assets in excess of £18bn.

The investment follows GMPVF’s delivery of the 280,000 sq ft One St Peter’s Square office in a joint venture with Argent, which completed in 2014.

Patrizia acquired First Street from developer Ask in May 2015, with Ask retained as development manager. The site includes Number One First Street, a 180,000 sq ft office building which is fully let, a 208-bedroom Innside Melia hotel, bars and restaurants, parking and public space. Alongside further office development on the site Patrizia is also planning 600 apartments for the private rented sector.

James Muir, managing director of Patrizia, said: “Little more than six months have passed since taking control of First Street and we have been making great strides, with this latest phase a testament to our work on site. The transaction shows that demand is there from occupiers and that investors are keen to back vibrant schemes such as First Street. At the same time, it highlights Patrizia’s ability to partner with a UK pension fund, and how we are able to use our balance sheet to create opportunities for co-investing with institutional clients.”

JLL advised Patrizia, while Bilfinger GVA acted for GMPVF.