AFTER years of driving past this dilapidated row in Lower Broughton and muttering that someone should rescue it, it seems that somebody actually might.
Iain, who is a director at the rugby club, said: “Most people want a three bed house with a drive and a garden and if we can deliver that for about £130,000 we are doing ok.
Godliman and Watson, the developer that is working on the other side of Great Cheetham Street West is in talks with Salford City Council and Contour Housing to bring the properties back into use.
MD Iain Watson, said: “We have made no secret of the fact that we want to restore this terrace and what has changed is that there is now money to bring empty houses back into use which was not there before.
“We are working with the council and with Contour and if there is a deal to be done we will try and do it.”
Great news that it may escape the bulldozers.
On the opposite side of the road and fronting onto Albert Park the firm has already restored two distinctive white villas, converting them into individual apartments.
While one three storey two bed sold for £168,000 they are generally looking for £135,000 for a two bed that offers 670sq ft in the listed buildings.
They have also built rows of townhouses, some facing the park, others forming an inner courtyard, which are fetching around £180,000 for three/four beds.
It’s been a slow process given the scale of the buildings and the state of the market but there is only one house left to sell and they now plan to build another half dozen between the two white villas.
Meanwhile the red brick building on the site has become something altogether different.
Built as two houses in 1840 it was at one time The Presidential Hotel before closing and falling into dereliction.
But it’s now been restored and offers some innovative live/work spaces. Click here for more information.
While live/work spaces can often be little more than an extra room labelled The Office, in a bid to get round planning but this is the real deal – you live upstairs in an apartment and have a proper office downstairs.
This time Godliman and Watson have collaborated with Salford University as well as Contour and the council and Iain said: “It’s about offering something really innovative as a way of retaining talent and encouraging enterprise.”
The eight apartments are across the top two floors of the Georgian building, and they are practical and well-fitted, the ones at the front having big windows and views over the park. The ones at the back offer more, quite a lot more, space.
On the ground floor the offices again differ in size but all have free Wi-Fi, use of a large well equipped meeting room, reception area and communal kitchen and there’s parking at the back.
It costs £599 a month for both apartment AND office which you can have for up to three years.
It has to be the cheapest deal in town plus you don’t pay any business rates.
You can’t have an apartment without taking up the office allocation, although you can have the office without an apartment, starting at £399 a month.
On my maths that makes the apartment £200 a month. Unsurprisingly there has been strong interest with people like HR consultant Barbara Barlow one of four new firms now based in the newly named Spark Studio.
Tenant Barbara Barlow At Sparkstudio
Continuing the university connection Salford students designed the front gardens and will be responsible for their maintenance.
Iain is pleased with the response and the way the different bodies have come together to try and find a solution to the problems many fledgling companies face.
He is considering a new build version on a small plot next door that would also have a cafe cum art gallery fronting onto Great Clowes Street to again try and offer something different in the area.
Up in Whitefield his firm is building a row of ten retail units with flats above selling at £67,000 for a two bed and £115,000 for three beds.
And they have acquired Salford City Reds old site at The Willows which will take about 200 new homes and are currently talking to planners about the type of housing they want to put on there.
Iain, who is a director at the rugby club, said: “Most people want a three bed house with a drive and a garden and if we can deliver that for about £130,000 we are doing ok.
“They will be red brick to fit in with the area and I want to build some bungalows because I think people in the area will want them.”
