Capital & Centric says work to turn a listed Manchester mill into creative workspaces will start in the new year.
The developer is now taking expressions of interest from businesses and café-bar operators interested in moving into Neptune Mill from late summer. Capital & Centric won planning permission for the £7m Piccadilly East scheme earlier this year.
The Neptune Mill news follows the announcement last week that Capital & Centric had started work on the former Littlewoods building in Liverpool. The developer is leading the project to turn that landmark site into a film studio dubbed the “Hollywood of the North”.
The Neptune Mill redevelopment will see the red-brick, Grade II listed building on Chapeltown Street, a short walk from Piccadilly station, converted to house 22,000 sq ft of workspaces featuring cast-iron columns and exposed brickwork. Capital & Centric will take one floor as its head office, while there will be a cafe on the ground floor and a landscaped courtyard outside. Work should get under way in January with workspaces available by late summer.
The Neptune Mill plans have been backed by a £3.8m million loan from the North West Evergreen Fund and the Greater Manchester Low Carbon Fund, managed by CBRE’s Lending team. It is the 15th listed building the developer has worked on, with other projects including the nearby Crusader and the Ducie Street Warehouse.
Tom Wilmot, joint managing director at Capital&Centric, said: “Manchester’s Piccadilly East neighbourhood is expanding at a rate of knots. We’ve already built 200 homes, a hotel and a new public square, and other developers are on with surrounding plots. We were early investors here and plan to locate our new HQ in the restored and repurposed Grade II listed building, just next door to our Crusader community.
“Neptune Mill will further add to the fabric of the neighbourhood, bringing something different to the mix with creative workspaces packed with character and a café bar on the ground floor that’ll be open to the public. Piccadilly East is really blossoming and, with businesses now being much more discerning about the type of workspace they want, we expect Neptune Mill will be a real draw for those looking to switch things up, particularly due to the building’s low carbon credentials.”
Will Church, executive director for lending at CBRE, said: “This is exactly the type of project the North West Evergreen Fund and the Greater Manchester Low Carbon Fund was set up to support; taking obsolete buildings and turning them into modern, highly energy efficient workspaces, which will be the catalyst for the continued development and growth of this exciting area of Manchester.”
