Housing plan for Toast Rack

A mixed-use development dominated by residential is expected to come forward for the iconic Hollings site under new owner Estrela Properties.

Estrela is a development vehicle established by a Libyan investor represented in this country by Introbuild, based in Ardwick.

Proposals are yet to be formally released but are highly likely to be private residential-led, with commercial space and a school also being considered as supplementary uses.

Estrela Properties paid £5m for the 3.7-acre site. The grade 2-listed modernist buildings, dubbed the toast rack and fried egg next door, will be retained. Student accommodation is not an option for future development under the terms of the sale.

Manchester Metropolitan University vacated the site in 2013 when the hospitality, food and drink faculty moved to the All Saints campus as part of a 10-year, £350m estate renewal programme.

A spokesman for Manchester Metropolitan University said: "As part of our plan to consolidate our Manchester campus onto one site, we moved our Hollings faculty to a new multi-million pound building at our All Saints site, where we can offer students excellent facilities for their courses. We have enjoyed working with the Manchester Modernist Society on their history of the Toast Rack and it is great that they have chronicled the story of this unusual building for the future." (See http://thetoastrack.wordpress.com/)

Surveyor DTZ and law firm Mills & Reeve advised Manchester Metropolitan University on the sale.

Chris Lloyd, director at DTZ, said: "The level of interest we received in the Toast Rack was testament to a truly unique piece of real estate and ever-improving Manchester property market. We look forward to seeing the completed scheme the purchaser is proposing."

No one from Estrela or Introbuild was available for comment.