With ALL of the shops closed on the high street at the moment, having House of Fraser‘s doors shut on Deansgate doesn’t seem like too much of a problem, but unfortunately – it won’t ever be opening it’s doors again – even after COVID.
That’s not exactly the full truth, as the Grade-II listed Kendal Milne building which House of Fraser have been operating out of for years, cannot be just knocked down – so instead owners Investec have lodged an application to redevelop it into 564,000 sq ft of offices.
The development will see the entire building converted and extended to provide space for offices, while still keeping the ground floor and basement levels for retail units.
In addition, the rather awful adjoining King Street West NCP multistorey car park will be demolished and replaced with a new 14-storey block – offering up a whopping 300,000 sq ft of office space and some additional retail and leisure units.
The plans also propose the creation of a new public space at Southgate – in the bit between King Street and Parsonage Gardens – essentially a brand-new high street lined with shops.
Subject to planning approval, construction work is expected to start at the beginning of 2022 and complete by early 2025.
