rentalcars.com adds 35 Fountain Street
OBI Property have announced rentalcars.com, the world’s largest car hire booking service and one of the UK’s largest tech businesses, is to expand its operations by taking 38,000 sq. ft. on the 2nd – 6th floors of 35 Fountain Street. It is the largest real-estate deal in Manchester city centre to date this year.
rentalcars.com’s new office is in addition to its 60,000 sq. ft. space at Sunlight House, where the firm employs around 1,000 people. The new office space will allow rentalcars.com to create another 200 jobs in Manchester in 2015 alone.
Ian Brown, CEO, rentalcars.com said: “We’re very excited about moving into 35 Fountain Street. The facilities in the building are excellent. It’s hugely important to us that we create the best possible working environment for the talented and committed colleagues who are key to our success. Along with the fit-out in Fountain Street we are also planning to refurbish Sunlight House with the aim of creating the most exciting working spaces in the UK.”
OBI Property represented rentalcars.com on acquiring the new lease and were appointed to design and project manage the new fit out. rentalcars.com are due to move into Fountain Street during April this year.
Will Lewis, OBI Property said: “Working with rentalcars.com has involved the whole team at OBI, and we’re looking forward to seeing the new office in action. It is exactly this type of fast track project when the ‘OBI difference’ really sets us apart by looking after our clients’ interests in a collective and all-encompassing fashion. The deal confirms the strength of Manchester’s tech offering, where we are seeing a number of tech businesses growing across the city.”
Landlord of 35 Fountain Street, IVG, carried out a refurbishment of the 50,000 sq. ft. building in 2013 which included the creation of a ground floor amenity space – the Tenant Hub – and a sizeable bike store.
Anthony Bull-Diamond, IVG said: “We worked very closely with rentalcars.com and wanted to understand exactly what they required from 35 Fountain Street. We are delighted that they really valued the high quality specification but also the amenity space we worked hard to create in the form of our tenant hub, cafe facility and cycle store.”
CBRE represented IVG on the deal.
The story was picked up by the property and business press including Property Week, Place North West, Insider, theBusinessdesk.com and the Manchester Evening News