Manchester City Owner To Build Up To 6,000 Houses Near Etihad In $1.7B Deal

The Middle Eastern owner of Man City "is to build up to 6,000 homes in the city, mostly to rent," in a £1B ($1.7B) deal with the council, according to Andrew Bounds of the FINANCIAL TIMES. The 10-year agreement with investment fund Abu Dhabi United Group "is one of the biggest of its kind and boosts government attempts to create a continental-style long-term private rental sector." The first phase of Manchester Life, as the joint venture is called, "will see more than 830 privately rented homes built in the once rundown Ancoats and New Islington areas of east Manchester, near City’s Etihad Stadium." Labour leader of the city council Richard Leese said, “The planned transformation of the eastern edge of the city center is the single biggest residential investment Manchester has seen for a generation” (FT, 6/24).