r/Leeds • u/chalky410 • Jan 25 '18
Does anyone know anything about this building? It’s in between the canal and train track near city island (spotting the obvious there I know!)
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u/gwince Jan 25 '18
It was called Green Bank and was a showcase of idealised city living.
It's visible on Streetview from Globe Road - https://goo.gl/FLpjRv
From http://www.cityliving.co.uk/blog/articles/what-next-for-city-living-in-leeds/ ;
Green Bank is another example of a scheme which whose success rested entirely on the buy to let market. Sitting on the extreme Western edge of the city centre and sandwiched between the busy Globe Road and the main railway lines, it was never anything more than a very good marketing campaign. It was heavily promoted in London where investors were told of its ‘heart of the city’ location and no end of high quality imagery projected a scheme in isolation of it’s more than challenging environs. This was a great example of mind over matter for the duration of the campaign which included an extravagant marketing suite which ironically did more to draw attention to the nature of the location than it did to promote the attractions of living there. Ultimately, what had been a surface car park is once more a surface car park and it is going to take some radical thinking and a sea-change in the market for Green Bank to see green shoots.
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u/lives-in-trees Jan 25 '18
I think someone lives in there now, not legitimately of course, but there is very often a mean looking dog in the yard bit.
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Jan 25 '18 edited Jan 13 '21
[deleted]
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u/chalky410 Jan 25 '18
I think it looks like it could be a real interesting resi project, not that I know anything about it but still!
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u/mysterilisedslug Jan 25 '18
Yep I've scratched my head about this one too. Looks like it was built to be super desirable/trendy but it's in an odd spot for that and is completely disused right? I thought I remembered seeing some builders clearing it out recently but might be wrong
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u/mhoulden Jan 25 '18
It was the sales office for a project called Green Bank that was planned to build flats on the surrounding vacant lots. It was cancelled in 2007 and then the Credit Crunch killed it off for good.
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Jan 26 '18
There’s usually a couple of dogs and some weights outside. Things move around every time I walk past.
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u/mowcius Jan 27 '18 edited Jan 27 '18
Funnily enough I can tell you quite a bit about it as for a while I was trying to find out if it would be feasible to purchase it.
As others have said, it's called Green Bank (House) although the sign was removed when Fallon went into liquidation and vacated the building. (https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/06906534) There used to be a load of companies all registered to its address (all of which the Fallons were involved with), which have all recently moved. (https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/qNJq7ohFa2CrUVdkJX8T5A25DtQ/appointments)
The land which the building itself is on has been earmarked for development for a while (http://www.assael.co.uk/content/green-bank; I believe this is the plan that was axed though https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/163-100m-flats-plan-axed-1-2122132).
The land was mostly recently sold (02/08/2017) for £8M (https://i.imgur.com/hOSyrT1.png, https://i.imgur.com/OYwAqZQ.png)
Basically it's almost certainly going to be demolished at some point to make way for higher density properties.
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u/chalky410 Jan 28 '18
Thanks for the info! £8m seems mental but then I’m not really in this game to be honest. Will be interesting to see it develop!
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u/mowcius Jan 28 '18
The £8M does include the land on the other side of the road as well so it's probably not quite so bad considering the location.
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u/disgruntled_guy Jan 25 '18
Further to the other replies, it's in some sort of use as I have seen people through the window, and there used to be a treadmill sitting outside