UK: Vita Group, the developer behind the CitySuites serviced apartment brand, is due to start on site next year at Union, its first co-living scheme.
Designed by Denton Corker Marshall, the 32-storey tower is on the site previously earmarked by Allied London for two 36-storey buildings, Nickel and Dime, aimed at the PRS market. The Nickel site was sold to Vita in May this year.
Vita – part of Select Property Group – will submit a planning application next month, with a view to starting on site in mid-2020, and completion in 2022.
Union will feature 388 apartments delivered in two-, three- and four-bedroom cluster apartments as well as studios. There will be four floors given to amenity space.
David Ancell, brand and product director at Vita Group told Place North West: “As a business, we like to look to areas which are under-served and which we’re not seeing done right yet. Student accommodation standards have gone up, there’s a lot of investment in PRS, but in the middle there’s something missing.”
He said the target market for Union is “graduates just out of university, bar workers, the life blood of the city who are currently unable to live anywhere near where they work, living in shared accommodation on the fringe of the city, taking up housing stock which could be better used for families.”
“We did a lot of focus groups and research into the demographic, average salaries, and exploring why people live where they live. It’s largely down to still wanting to be sociable as the social group post-university starts to disperse, and also affordability. We thought there must be a middle ground where you can deliver affordable units in the city centre, but create a well-managed ecosystem and shared amenity,” he added. “There will be a range of room types, some of which we’re ensuring will be priced for people working at a salary of £21,000, which is the average graduate starting salary in Manchester. We want this to be somewhere residents are proud to call home, and feel like they have moved on from student living.”
