Albany And Virgin In Crown Building Talks

Albany And Virgin In Crown Building Talks

Published on 02-04-2008 by Skyscrapernews.com
Not content with plans to enter the Space Age, Virgin could now be entering the hotel sector if media reports of them occupying half of a planned skyscraper in Manchester are realised.

The 44 floor Crown Building designed by Ian Simpson Architects for the Albany Group has struggled to get off the drawing board and onto the skyline since the blueprints first saw light of day in 2005.

Albany has been primarily hampered by a lack of money and the unwillingness of banks to lend them enough to build the scheme based on the relatively poor sales performance of their past residential developments.

A hotel operator signing up for the scheme at this stage will be a white knight to the development who has been in talks with various parties for at least a year.

In taking 23 floors as a four star hotel, Virgin would be making a major pre-let of the scheme that would allow it to proceed once the various planning caveats have been solved and could even secure Virgin naming rights to the building, something the publicity hungry brand would value.

The current proposals for Albany's tower which have been approved, relate to a largely residential building with attached office space so any change in the use would require a new planning application. Given what's already approved on the site it's unlikely that Manchester City Council would have much of an issue with a new but similar application.

For Virgin the opening of a high rise hotel in a tower would be a spectacular move into the business putting them instantly en par with the Hilton Group in Manchester who occupy half of the Beetham Tower, not to mention provide them with a business that compliments their already strong tourist offerings from airlines to limousines.

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