Work begins on Manchester aparthotel

Construction has started on site on the aparthotel at the junction of Chorlton and Canal Streets, to be known as the Cotton Yard.

Operator Staying Cool is to run the Cotton Yard, a 41-unit aparthotel in the building that housed trailblazing restaurant and bar Mash & Air in the 1990s.

The development will offer a mix of studios and suites over four floors of the existing building, together with eight duplex penthouses in a new rooftop extension. The build project is expected to take around a year, with the owners planning to welcome the first guests in September 2020.

Paul Taylor, joint managing director of Staying Cool, said: “The building was a former cotton finishing yard, so the name Cotton Yard just made sense. We also think it has a nice ring to it.

“Built in various stages between the late 19th and the early 20th centuries, it’s a stunner of a building, which we are really excited to be bringing back to life after years of neglect. It is a perfect location for a design-led apartment hotel.”

The building, within the Whitworth Street /Princess Street Conservation Area, was acquired by the Cringle Corporation, with Staying Cool winning through in a CBRE-led competitive tender to determine the development’s operator.

A joint partnership with Bespoke Hotels, the Cotton Yard will sit alongside Staying Cool’s existing 35-suite apartment hotel, which occupies the top floors of Birmingham’s Rotunda.