New PRS apartments announced for MediaCityUK

Peel Land & Property will act as development manager for the project, which will take up the plot next to the Lightbox apartments, currently under construction at MediaCityUK.

Bouygues UK is expected to start construction in October on the 190,000 sq ft development, which will comprise 238 apartments and reach 19 storeys. Of the apartments, 134 will be one-bedroom, 85 two-bedroom and 19 three-bedroom.

The scheme represents Atlas’ third PRS venture in the UK, following schemes in Southampton and Birmingham, both of which it is partnering on with Rockspring. However, it is the US giant’s first project with Singapore-based IPIM, which over the last six years has backed nine student accommodation schemes in the UK.

Jonathon Ivory, Managing Director at Atlas commented: “This acquisition continues Atlas’ thematic ‘first mover advantage’ strategy which we have successfully executed in both Southampton and Birmingham already. We consider MediaCityUK to be a core part of the Greater Manchester regeneration story and by acquiring this asset are pleased to be participating in the success of Peel’s impressive master planned vision.

“Equally, we are excited to be partnering with IPIM who share our goal of seeking out value and opportunities in regions throughout the UK that display the same fundamentals that we look for in our US acquisitions, namely positive population growth in job engine locations with excellent transportation combined with an acute supply / demand housing imbalance.”

Stephen Wild, Managing Director at MediaCityUK said: “This is an exciting development for the second phase of MediaCityUK, and will provide even more residential space here – for which the demand is huge. The arrival of more retail and leisure destinations like The Alchemist and The Botanist, coupled with increased transport links and a growing community of businesses, makes MediaCityUK an ever-popular place to live, and we look forward to working with Atlas and IPIM to deliver the new PRS.”