Old Brewery Gardens developer owes creditors £10m 

Prosperity UX Manchester, the company behind a 556-home project on part of the former Boddington’s site, collapsed in May after its directors were faced with “imminent bankruptcy proceedings”, according to a report by administrators. 

At the time of its collapse, the developer owed £6.4m to consumer creditors and a further £3.3m to parent company Prosperity Capital Partners. 

Prosperity UX was founded in March 2017 and received planning permission to redevelop the site off Dutton Street in February 2019. However, work never started on site.

The project, first known as Old Brewery Gardens but then rebranded as The Cream, featured five buildings between 11 and 26 storeys, comprising 580,000 sq ft of residential space. 

The directors, Gavin Barry and Edward Fowkes, had been in discussions with investors and a developer about taking over the project but those talks stalled. 

Prosperity UX had spent £7m on the scheme to date, according to administrator Quantuma. 

The developer held an option to acquire the three-acre former Boddingtons site on a leasehold basis from its current owner, Deansgate Securities, which is part of Realty Estates. 

The site is adjacent to Manchester College’s £100m city centre campus project. 

The scheme was designed by Assael Architecture, with Deloitte as the planning consultant. 

Quantuma is also acting as administrator for several of the group’s other companies, including Prosperity St James House Developments and Prosperity Cathedral View Developments. 

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So the owners will have to pay up, will they? If I can not pay my debts, the law courts send me the bailiffs. Fair enough.

By James Yates

To James Yates. What usually happens is the remaining money and value in uncompleted developments is used up by the liquidators/administrators investigating what has gone on. There is nothing left for the creditors. The directors may get a ban but are usually back up in business repeating this scam all over again.

By Liam D

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