MCR Property Group has acquired the 84,661 sq ft 4M office building at Manchester Airport for an undisclosed price.
Positioned directly above Manchester Airport’s main transport interchange, between Terminals 1 and 2, the building provides six floors of office accommodation, with suites ranging from approximately 278 sq ft to more than 15,000 sq ft.
The building is home to occupiers including Manchester Airport, Emirates, Menzies Aviation and TransPennine Trains. MCR intends to undertake a £2m investment programme to upgrade the accommodation, improve the occupier experience and bring additional space back into active use, with refurbishment works expected to begin in late October.
At the centre of MCR’s strategy for 4M is the transformation of the lower floors into a new flexible workspace destination, offering serviced offices, smaller suites and flexible accommodation. The new workspace will form part of MCR’s forthcoming national flexible workspace brand, which will bring the group’s growing portfolio of serviced and flexible office locations together under one identity.
Martin Brown, director of commercial property at MCR Property Group, said: “4M has all the fundamentals we look for, scale, connectivity, a globally recognised location and genuine potential to create something significantly better. The continued investment and growth around Airport City was a major attraction for us. Manchester Airport is one of the North West’s most important economic and employment locations, and we see a clear opportunity to create a much stronger workplace offer for businesses that want accessibility, flexibility and quality in one place.
“We are investing £2m into the building, upgrading the existing accommodation and creating an entirely new flexible workspace proposition across the lower floors. That will give new occupiers more choice, while also giving businesses already based at 4M the flexibility to grow and evolve within the building. It will also become an important part of the workspace brand we are preparing to launch nationally, so in many ways 4M is the perfect place for that next chapter to take off.
“Following our acquisition of Headrow House in Leeds, and with a strong pipeline of further opportunities in the office sector, this is another example of where we see value in well located buildings that can benefit from active ownership and investment. For MCR, this is also another significant investment in Manchester. We know the city, we understand the market and we continue to see opportunities where meaningful investment can unlock long term value.”
MCR was represented by Lambert Smith Hampton with Deloitte undertaking legals.
