Allied London secures £16.5m boost for St John’s scheme in Manchester

Developer Allied London has received a £16.5m investment towards its St John’s scheme in central Manchester.

The eight-figure loan, provided by the North West Evergreen Fund, will finance the refurbishment of The Bonded Warehouse alongside pre-development and infrastructure works for elements of the wider St John’s project, including Yard, St. John’s Place, Manchester Goods, the South Village and One Granada Studios.

Allied London chief exec Michael Ingall said: “St. John’s is a major development project; our current intention is to develop the entire project in one extended phase which will involve significant development funding.

“Whilst we put all the pieces into place, we have secured funding from Evergreen for early infrastructure and enabling works together with the development of the Bonded Warehouse – which will be the initial anchor building for Enterprise City, due to open in early 2018.”

He continued: “This is our third transaction with Evergreen and we are delighted to have established such a solid relationship.”

St John’s will deliver new office, hotel, leisure and residential space across a 1,000,000 sq ft neighbourhood on the site of the former Granada Studios.

Greater Manchester Combined Authority chief exec Eamonn Boylan commented: “I am very pleased that Evergreen will be used as the catalytic funding of this strategic project.

“St John’s will support the regeneration of a once important employment site into a transformational employment, leisure and housing development.

He added: “Providing this type of necessary infrastructure for the growth of our region is exactly why Evergreen exists.”

The North West Evergreen Fund is managed by property services firm CBRE’s Debt Investment Advisory team, part of CBRE Capital Advisors.

Andrew Antoniades, the head of CBRE’s Debt Investment Advisory team, said: “We are delighted to have provided the funding for this strategically vital scheme. St John’s is an incredibly dynamic scheme and underscores the need for Evergreen to kick-start developments that will have wide reaching socio-economic benefits to the region.”