SIMON Green, asset manager at Aviva Investors, says: "The Corn Exchange is not working as a shopping centre that's clear. We want to start again by focussing entirely on food right across the building."
We're going to allow the Corn Exchange to communicate with city on all three sides. At the moment there's very much a front on Exchange Square and a back at Cathedral Gardens. This doesn't make much sense
"To achieve this," Green continues, "the whole building will close from February 2014 to November 2014 so we can complete the redevelopment in one go. We are negotiating with existing tenants at present about how we achieve this."
The poor old Corn Exchange has never worked properly since an unfortunate conversion to a shopping centre post IRA bomb in 1996. For reasons only known to marketing mandarins, the owners at that time decided to get rid of a name embedded in city history and go for The Triangle instead. A shape. A mistake.
The owners then went crazier and imposed the world's ugliest metal structure inside the building to host that rare and distinctive business that drags punters from far and wide, a Caffe Nero. They also employed the hapless metal-working sculptor, Mel Chantry, to fashion bizarre twisted structures impeding footfall to the building. Then they got rid of all that and called it the Corn Exchange again.
It's been bloody exhausting.
Exchange Square facade as it will look after redevelopment - all neatened up
The new food plan makes sense given the Corn Exchange's location. It's also a £15m way of rebooting the old building fully.
As Green says: "This is a great location in the city, surrounded by attractions, with the second crossing Metrolink station due to be located right outside the Corn Exchange. We have the National Football Museum on one side, with Victoria Station being refurbished beyond that and NOMA close by too. We are in the heart of the city. We think a good quality food hall with a range of providers will work well."
So what type of operators does Green want?
"We already have Zinc, Tampopo and Salvis and they're a good measure of what we are trying to achieve," says Green. "It's not going to be fine dining but its going to good quality, it's not going to be Arndale Food Hall. We also want the best of local operators and and maybe a few name restaurants that aren't represented in Manchester."
And what of indies? The Corn Exchange was once a cracking bric-a-brac arcade of crazy emporia from medals to rare LPs from crystal gazers to fashion start-ups. If Salvis can prosper here as a good food indie couldn't others do so as well?
Green answers cautiously. "Of course we'd like good quality independents if we can fit them in the overall offer. The basement we want to be a very exciting space with maybe an artisan bakers for instance, but we also want good brands too."
New look
With Simon Green is Stuart Harris of Queensberry Real Estate who'll be overseeing the redevelopment. How's the building going to physically change?
"We're going to allow the Corn Exchange to communicate with city on all three sides. At the moment there's very much a front on Exchange Square and a back at Cathedral Gardens. This doesn't make much sense. Since all are lovely facades then operators' units will be able to open out directly onto Cathedral Street and Fennel Street as well as Exchange Square. The building will be more permeable."
A clever part of Harris's plan is to create an arcade effect from Fennel Street to Exchange Square.
"We want people to cut through the building," says Harris. "If they're using the Corn Exchange as a short cut then they might want to stop and eat and drink. So we'll be making a very clear and easy to follow route right through the centre of the building.
"This will pass an oculus, a circle cut in the ground floor that matches the dome on top of the building and offer exciting glimpes of the food in the basement. We'll be be using or emphasising original features throughout, including the mini-domes."
Harris's plan for the units is that instead of galleries on different levels, restaurants will extend vertically from ground level through the floors as discrete units. This means people will not be able to circulate round the building on the inside except at ground level.
As for the existing operators, Green clearly wants businesses such as Tampopo, Zinc and Salvis back. The shops including Jigsaw are going, their leases being terminated. This may well be a good thing for them if they are tied into expensive contracts. What it might also mean is that CityCo, the city centre management company, has an opportunity to promote King Street as the ideal relocation area. Jigsaw for the old Monsoon site maybe?
Simon Green and Stuart Harris
What Tampopo, Zinc, Salvis and so on are supposed to do during the redevelopment period is still being negotiated.
"We think they understand why it's better to close completely and refurbish rather than do it piecemeal over eighteen months. But negotiations are on-going over how we are going to acheive that transition with a number of ideas being discussed."
In all the changes being envisaged let's hope many jobs aren't lost.
And that the monstrous carbuncle with Caffe Nero in the centre of the building?
"That's going. We're committed to this building, we want it to succeed so things such as that have to go," says Green.
A bit of background
The present Corn Exchange was largely rebuilt in 1903 in a vaguely Rennaissance going on Baroque style - some older elements were completed five years earlier. It was designed by Potts Son & Pickup, with the brick parts on the north-eastern side by Ball & Elce. There are some original features in the Grade II listed building including some splendid mosaics at the entrance on Hanging Ditch/Exchange Square.
Cathedral Gardens facade after the changes
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