The Maine Place

IT’S four years since I watched Manchester City legend Mike Summerbee and Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese mark the redevelopment of the old Maine Road site in Moss Side with a bit of a kick about for the cameras.

The plan was to build 440 new homes that would provide an alternative to the ranks of surrounding brick terraces as well as a new primary school and health centre and a piece of art where the sacred centre spot had once been.

Official picture of the Duplex Apartments

It was a good plan and the bright shiny newness of the new houses and the space and efficiency they offered attracted buyers.

But the timing was not so good and like all developments it was hit by the collapse in the financial markets. Even with an injection of £9.4m of Kickstart money from the Government the original developer, Lowry Homes, were in trouble and went into administration.

The Maine Place site, and three others belonging to Lowry, were bought by Warrington based Prospect GB whose pragmatic and hands on chief executive Neil Waddington knew it could still be a winner.

Official picture of the scheme

The original plans were tweaked with more family housing replacing a second apartment block, they finished off the phases that had been started, the new school was built and opened and they have just completed 44 apartments in a curvy block that makes a good landmark.

Like Manchester City it may have been through a rocky patch but it’s definitely getting there.

I paid another visit last week and they have shifted the sales office from opposite the school on Claremont Road further into the site just in front of the apartment building which sits on Blue Moon Way.

Official picture of the scheme

You have to feel slightly sorry for the sales negotiator Ron Ramsey, a Liverpudlian and staunch Liverpool FC fan who has to extol the virtues of house types with names like the Sumerbee and the Allison.

And first day back after the Christmas break he is rushed off his feet so while he takes one prospective buyer off to look at some of the completed houses I wander round the show apartments with Sandra.

She already lives at Maine Place in a three bed house she bought when the scheme first launched and is looking at an apartment for her eldest daughter.

“She’s a good girl, just finishing her degree at Liverpool and works part-time and she wants to come back here,” she explains. “Me and her Dad will put down the deposit and then she can have a place on her own. Somewhere she can grow into.”

The centre spot is there somewhere

She is impressed with the two bedroom show unit which has a separate galley style kitchen fitted out with a fridge and freezer, large extractor and loads of cupboard space and the wide balcony off the living room.

“I didn’t get all that in my kitchen when we bought and the bathrooms bigger and it’s got a proper towel rail,” she muses. “I like it. I like the space and I like that you can open the doors onto the balcony. This will do her well.”

Lucky daughter.

But it is all down to the money. It is priced at £90,950 but Prospect are offering an 80/20 shared equity deal which some lenders will accept with a 5 per cent deposit.

The cruise liner look of the new apartment block

So Sandra would have to find 5 per cent of the 80 per cent price which is a deposit of about £3,800 and her daughter would have to be able to finance a mortgage of around £370 a month. The developer loan makes up the rest and is interest free for five years. She seemed to think that would be ok.

It’s a deal that is attracting a lot of young people, keen to get a place of their own after too long at home and you can always rent out the second bedroom to a friend to help the finances.

Ron said: “Anyone living in the city centre paying £600 a month for a tiny place would snatch your hand off if they come and see what they get here.

“It’s strange that people have got used to paying higher and higher rents and don’t realise how low a mortgage can actually be. And the amount of space you can get.”

They did have a couple of one beds at £59,950 which were snapped up and although the cheapest now is £79,950 but you can get a two bed with open plan kitchen/living for £84,950.

The apartments are many and varied, some better than others, some with balconies, some not, some at the top of the building with long terraces looking back to the city. All get a secure parking space at the back.

And there are some quirky three bed upside down houses with front doors leading from the street and the living space and kitchen on the first floor. Not sure who the building architect was but I like the look and the inside spaces generally work well.

I have a wander around the rest of the site and looking through the mesh trying to find where the centre spot was, I bump into a former MEN colleague who is doing the same.

He went off to Australia to make his fortune then returned and invested in property around south Manchester. He thinks the time is right to be buying again and had heard good things about Maine Place, probably helped by the fact he is a City fan.

He said: “It looks good. It’s a lot more finished than I thought it would be and I like the wide street through the centre that will eventually link through the site. Geographically it’s in a good spot. I have some happy memories of Maine Road and I like the idea of some art on the centre spot. “ he zoomed off in his Golf for a drive around memory lane.

There’s more info at here and you can download floorplans and look at pretty pictures.

Or go and talk football and annoy Ron who is on site daily from 10am to 5pm 0161 232 7563