Merepark on track with spec offices
Merepark is set to start formally marketing 75,000 sq ft of speculative office space in Central Village, Liverpool at an event tomorrow ahead of the project's completion in November.
The office space, named The Department and designed by architects Aedas, is part of a major refurbishment of the former Lewis's store.
The scheme is part of Merepark's six-acre Central Village development which comprises the former department store, three hotels, retail outlets, restaurants, bars, cafes, a new public car park and extensive landscaped public spaces.
The refurbishment of the L-shaped Grade 2-listed building has been partly funded by the European Regional Development Fund, and when complete will provide an Accor Adagio Apart Hotel and The Department Offices separated by a six-storey atrium.
The building will provide four floors of office space accessed from the Plaza level of Central Village or independently from Renshaw Street.
Merepark Construction Ltd is currently undertaking the refurbishment works. Practical completion is due by the end of November 2012.
DTZ and CBRE are the appointed letting agents and are marketing the space at £15.50/sq ft.
Chris Lloyd, associate director of DTZ, said: "The great attraction of The Department is its large rectangular floors of circa 18,000 sq ft. Combined with the excellence of the location for staff being mid-way between Lime Street Station and the retail within Liverpool One, the building is ideally suited for call centre or back-office use. The adjacent leisure facilities in Central Village and Merseyrail's Central Station add further to this advantage."
Neal Hunter from Merepark added: "Central Village is an extremely complex scheme and after several years of hard work we are delighted to see both the hotel and offices taking shape. There has not been a building of this quality in this part of the city before and we believe the inherent strengths of The Department will ensure that it finds a successful niche in the Liverpool office market."
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CGI visualisation supplied by Diffuse 3D
By Matt
I always find it annoying how Merepark have shown zero respect for former employees of Lewis’s Store, by sending out "look-at-all-the-good we have done / are going to do" press releases (specially when the store was in its closing down stages, it adds insult to injury) when over 400 employees (some who worked there for more than 50 years have lost there jobs.) Shame on you Merepark…
By A former Lewis's Worker
I don’t think Merepark can be blamed for your former employer going bust!!! Behind the scenes Merepark were trying to find a temporary home for the department store while the overhauled the building….
By Liverpool Angel
It is not so much finding the company a temporary home, it is more to do with the way that merepark seemed fit to send out press releases stating how many "new" jobs were coming, in the same week we all got told we were getting made redundant!!
By A former Lewis's Worker
Merepark are a property developer not a retailer. Lewis’s were given options but were to financially unsound to take them. That’s not Mereparks fault.
By weights