Manchester Property News – Boutique hotel group Dakota had submitted plans for a £60m hotel located next to Manchester Airport which will be located in the £1bn wider development scheme MIX Manchester, which is the rebrand of ‘Airport City’.
The hotel will be built on a three-acre site off the new Enterprise Way link and will be Boutique hotel group Dakota’s second Manchester location, with its first opening in Dulce Street, close to Manchester Piccadilly which opened in May 2019 with 137 luxury bedrooms, including 27 suites which are said to be some of the largest hotel rooms available in the city.
Dakota Group was founded by veteran Scottish hotelier Ken McCulloch, who originally founded the Malmaison hotel brand in 1994 and the award-winning, boutique hotel brand Dakota also has additional locations in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Motherwell and Leeds.
KPP Architects is designing the new Dakota MIX Manchester hotel which will span some 84,335 sq ft and comprise of 154 bedrooms, a premium bar, and a brasserie-style grill. To appeal to guests using the Manchester airport the hotel will also include 130 car parking spaces and a dedicated shuttle service to and from the airport terminals.
The site is ready to proceed upon planning approval with £30m of joint venture capital already invested in highways and utilities infrastructure, including a new pedestrian bridge linking to the main airport site as part of the wider MIX Manchester scheme.
Andrew Ovenstone, Managing Director of Dakota Hotels, commented: “This is a significant moment for Dakota Hotels, and this Airport expansion marks an exciting time for our team and guests alike.”
“With routes covering four continents of the world and increasing numbers of passengers and flights year on year, Manchester Airport is a fast-growing global gateway to the North. We are looking forward to being part of the journey for the 28 million travellers that come through their doors – bringing our unique brand of luxury hospitality to the Airport hotel market.”
Subject to planning consent being given, the Dakota Manchester Airport hopes to open its doors in 2026.
MIX Manchester Scheme
Conceived in 2011 and declared an enterprise zone the £1bn, 60-acre project known then as Airport City Manchester envisioned the wider expansion of Manchester airport into an Airport City, a concept used in the development of Barcelona and Frankfurt, in which on-site logistics, manufacturing, office and leisure facilities and hotels would be simultaneously developed alongside the airport’s on-site infrastructure and connecting roads and transport links.
MIX Manchester is a joint venture between the Greater Manchester Property Fund, Manchester Airports Group, Columbia Threadneedle Real Estate and contractor Beijing Construction Engineering Group International who alone is putting in £800m of funding to develop the site. Carillion were an original partner but following their spectacular demise, BCEGI became the sole contractor.
The rebranding and re-think of Airport City Manchester into MIX Manchester seemed to be in need following a stall of the scheme during Covid and post Covid, as the demand for office space seemed to dry up.
The result of that rethink was a promise to bring forward 2m sq/ft of laboratories, research and development facilities, manufacturing spaces, alongside public spaces, three hotels, and leisure venues.
News that boutique hotel group Dakota have submitted plans for their latest venue may well ignite some wider interest in the scheme and put it back on track given the silence surrounding The Hut Group’s (THG) development there.
Is The Hut Group Development at Mix Manchester Stalled?
The Hut Group were linked with a new building at then Airport City Manchester back in 2017 and news that a deal had been struck was made in 2018 but it took until January 2020 to see any further news, when The Hut Group and Trafford Council made a joint announcement that The Hut Group, now THG, would build a 300,000 sq/ft site to house 10,000 employees in what was to be its Head Office & Academy. This plan was billed as the first phase in what could swell to a million sq/ft which was reflective of the companies ambitions and growth as at the start of 2020 and Trafford Council announced they were providing £67.5m in debt finance to fund the buildings development. Then it all went quiet. Not for THG shareholders though. For them, the sound of their investment in THG would likely have been a collection of moans, groans, screams and despair as THG shares fell a year after their IPO.
Shares in THG peaked at 837.8p on 12 January and although they dipped to 575p in August and saw to 664p in September 2021, they have fallen and continued to fall since, with the company losing over 90% of its market capitalisation since. THG shares started trading below 70p from June this year.
THG maybe down but its not out.
Whilst the last 4 years have been a rollercoaster for the owner of retail websites Lookfantastic, Glossybox, Zavvi and Coggles, as well as beauty brands including ESPA and Illamasqua and the sports nutrition brand Myprotein, there is some glimpses of light at the end of the tunnel as the business has reported its first quarter of sales growth, amid last years dissapointing financials which although the business had halved its losses, they were still huge losses of
The Hut Group (THG) reported a 2.1% rise in group continuing revenue to £455m in the three months to 31 March 2024, driven by “encouraging” performance in its beauty division according to Matthew Moulding, CEO of THG, said: “Following the group’s return to revenue growth in Q4 2023, it’s pleasing to report an acceleration in Q1, which is testament to the hard work and dedication of our people, who’ve remained focused on the task in hand despite the tough macro-economic backdrop.”
Given that THG laid off 3000 workers, it may mean that a shiny new HQ in MIX Manchester may not be a priority right now, but despite any speculation, the business, nor the team at MIX Manchester have said THG’s development is proceeding or being dropped so we will have to see what happens next.
MIX Manchester Pressing On
Samantha Hadland, senior asset manager at Columbia Threadneedle, played up MIX Manchester’s proximity to the airport.
“Being situated next to an international airport which links 28m passengers a year, MIX Manchester opens a global opportunity for science and innovation businesses wanting to locate in the North West, in particular the burgeoning advanced manufacturing sector,” she said.
“With world-class universities and research institutions on the doorstep with immediate access to secure, global logistics connections through Manchester Airport’s World Freight Terminal, occupiers will have access to an incredible talent pool and unrivalled global connectivity.”
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