The Birmingham Development Company (BDC) – the developer of the 1.5m sq ft Mailbox and £100m Cube schemes in the city – has bought another major development site in the city centre.
BDC has bought the 500,000 sq ft former Birmingham Post & Mail printing works in the Colmore Business District from newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror for an undisclosed sum.
It plans to create its third Birmingham landmark on the city centre site.
The deal to buy the site, which is next to Carlyle Group’s Colmore Plaza, completed in 6 weeks.
Birmingham Development Company Directors Alan Chatham and Mark Billingham said: ‘It is exciting to find a building of this scale in such a prominent central location and at a value that provides us the opportunity to do something really special with it.
‘Our company does not do ‘ordinary’, each of our schemes are complex and unique, and as such we will never build The Cube or The Mailbox again, we are looking to do something different that will make the most of the location and create a new landmark for Birmingham.
‘The purchase of the site poses a fantastic new challenge for both BDC and BuildAbility [BDC’s in-house contractor]. The Mailbox regenerated a part of the city that was previously unloved and The Cube continues to extend this offer in an area that has seen much further regeneration and residential development following on from our initial investment.’
It is likely that BDC will look to provide a mix of retail, restaurant, leisure hotel and office uses in a mixed use building on the site in line with Birmingham’s Big City Plan.
Councillor Mike Whitby, leader of Birmingham City Council said: ‘Birmingham Development Company is a company with vision and an excellent track record of delivering innovative projects and it is fantastic news that they have chosen another prominent building in the city as their next scheme.
It is also great to see that even in today’s current climate, Birmingham still offers a real opportunity for quality property investment and development.’
BDC plans to submit a planning application by the end of this year. GVA Grimley and lawyer Eversheds acted for BDC.