Albany Crown Tower
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This article or section contains information about expected future buildings or structures. Some or all of this information may be speculative, and the content may change as building construction begins. |
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| Albany Crown Tower | |
Render of how the tower is expected to look when completed. |
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| Information | |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | |
| Status | Planned |
| Estimated completion | 2008-2009[1] |
| Use | Hotel / Offices / Residential[1] |
| Roof | Over 160 m (525 ft)[1] |
| Floor count | 54[1] |
| Cost | £83 million[2] |
| Companies | |
| Architect | Ian Simpson[3] |
| Developer | Albany Crown[1] |
The Albany Crown Tower (or simply the Albany Tower) is a planned development for the city of Manchester in England. Its proposed location is on Aytoun and Auburn Streets,[4] fronting onto Rochdale Canal[1] and near Piccadilly Station. If constructed it will be one of the tallest buildings in Manchester. It is expected to cost £83 million.[2] It was designed by Ian Simpson,[3] and is being developed by Albany Crown.[1]
The original proposed height of the building was 131 m (430 ft), with 44 floors,[3] providing 35,298.00 square metres of space.[2] The ground floor will be occupied by retail stores, with floors 1 through 23 (140,000 square feet of space) occupied by a hotel. Floors 24 through 41 will be residential, while the top two floors will house a penthouse.[5] In total there will be 237 flats.[1] On 10 May 2007 it was revealed that Albany are now planning to add a further 10 stories to the main tower, increasing its size to over 160 m (525 ft).[1]
Adjoining the main tower will be a smaller, 11 storey tower, at 49 m (160 ft), with approximately 14,500 square metres of space.[2] This will be occupied by retail stores on the ground floor, and offices on the remaining floors.[5]
The planning application for the development was submitted on 21 February 2005.[6] Albany then purchased the site in October 2005[7] for £6 million.[1] Planning permission was approved on the 11 November 2005.[6] The site is currently occupied by a derelict 5-storey office building built in the 1960s,[8] and occupied by the Labour Exchange,[1] part of the Department of Employment.[9] This was due for demolition in early 2006, however, it remains standing.[7] The project is currently believed to have stalled thanks to the failure of Albany Assets to sell all the apartments in their existing developments.[2][10] There have been reports of the possbility of Virgin Group boss Richard Branson opening the first of a chain of Virgin City Hotels in the tower.[11]
