One Park West tops out ‘almost half sold’
The tallest building in Grosvenor's £950m Liverpool One marked its topping out today with residential agent King Sturge announcing city centre sales are so far unaffected by the gloomy national outlook.
Martyn Green, partner at King Sturge Liverpool, said: "The core city centre market in Liverpool is protected by the rental market which remains extremely strong and by the general ongoing growth of the city."
Green said interest from buyers had actually increased since the turn of the year and confirmed that nearly half of the 326 apartments in One Park West had been sold.
The first units were released to market in February 2007 and Green said prices have gone up in two stages by around 5% each time since.
Prices of available flats now range from £109,000 to £395,000. A final batch of 60 units will be held back until closer to the completion in February 2009.
The 15-storey building traces the curved edge of the rebuilt Chavasse Park and has a distinct angled prow, which leans out 11 metres from base to top.
The American architects behind the design, Pelli Clarke Pelli, were represented at the ceremony with principal architect Bill Butler flying in from Connecticut especially.
Butler rebuffed local criticism of his prominent glass building, with nicknames varying from 'Seventies secondary school' to 'an extension to the Royal Liverpool Hospital'.
Butler said: "In general new buildings are either loved or hated and any that have more glass than metal get labelled modern. When it is finished and people look back at the whole and not just the part they see now, we hope they will change their minds."
Martin Watson, of local architects Brock Carmichael, who worked with Pelli Clarke Pelli on the building, added: "Pelli was working on a city scale with this building and when it is completed and viewed from distance you will see how it works, with the curve around the park and the strong projection of the corner."
The first retail elements of Liverpool One will open on May 29.
