{"id":647732,"date":"2025-12-22T06:04:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T06:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/647732\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T06:04:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T06:04:20","slug":"cash-strapped-councils-planned-sale-of-iconic-birmingham-building-is-approved-heres-whats-next-for-one-of-the-citys-tallest-buildings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/647732\/","title":{"rendered":"Cash-strapped council\u2019s planned sale of \u2018iconic\u2019 Birmingham building is approved &#8211; here&#8217;s what&#8217;s next for one of the city&#8217;s tallest buildings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A huge range of properties and land have been sold since the start of last year after the Labour-run authority declared itself effectively bankrupt in September 2023.<\/p>\n<p>More property sales were given the green light at a meeting this week, including one that involves Alpha Tower in Suffolk Street Queensway.<\/p>\n<p>It is one of the tallest buildings in Birmingham and was given Grade II Listed status in 2014.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/565cfaeb-c9b0-4532-9dfb-c807db2ff6b2.PNG\"   alt=\"Alpha Tower in Birmingham city centre. From Google Maps.\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"w-full max-w-none\"\/>Alpha Tower in Birmingham city centre. From Google Maps.<\/p>\n<p>The development was originally conceived with the aim of creating a HQ for an independent television company and is now described as a place for \u201cdynamic and ambitious businesses\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>With the property being owned freehold by the council, the relevant council committee were being recommended to proceed with the proposed sale to \u2018assist with the local authority\u2019s financial recovery\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the meeting, Labour <a href=\"https:\/\/www.birmingham.gov.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cabinet\u00a0<\/a>member for finance Karen McCarthy said: \u201cThis is the one that makes me go \u2018do we have to?\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an iconic building [\u2026] but it\u2019s very clearly in scope.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/976180fd-f2f3-463d-9461-ae88118f9293.jpg\"   alt=\"Birmingham City Council House on Tuesday, September 9. Credit: Alexander Brock. Permission for use for all LDRS partners.\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"w-full max-w-none\"\/>Birmingham City Council House on Tuesday, September 9. Credit: Alexander Brock. <\/p>\n<p>Conservative councillor Robert Alden added: \u201cBeing blunt, I\u2019d rather we sold this than a community library so given where the council is, this is a sensible thing to be looking at.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Previously responding to the plans, ward councillor Albert Bore said he was \u201csorry that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.birmingham.gov.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Birmingham City Council<\/a> is giving up the freehold of buildings such as Alpha Tower\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>But he continued that he accepted the \u201cfinancial necessity for doing so\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>On the option of doing nothing, the council said it is \u201cunder no obligation to proceed with the proposal and would suffer no reputational consequences if it did not proceed\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>However, it continued: \u201cThe negotiated capital receipt would not be realised at this time and would not be available to assist with delivery of the council\u2019s financial recovery plan, with there being no guarantee of a future opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The property is currently subject to a long lease to the current leaseholder, with the council saying it would be unlikely that it could reuse or develop the tower instead of selling it.<\/p>\n<p>This week\u2019s meeting heard that the capital receipt from the sale is \u201csignificant\u201d and therefore \u201cmore attractive\u201d than continuing ongoing ground rent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A huge range of properties and land have been sold since the start of last year after the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":647733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,748,393,4884,8823,379,12,285,2516,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-647732","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-ldrs","13":"tag-local-hubs","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-property","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115761713960518501","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}