The development located alongside Alliance Manchester Business School forms part of the University’s campus master plan and now has nine of its 12 units pre-let ahead of its opening later this year.
Fast-growing Indian street food kitchen, Mowgli was founded in 2014 by barrister, food writer and Indian cookery teacher, Nisha Katona. Mowgli already operates one extremely popular restaurant in the Corn Exchange in Manchester and has been actively seeking another site in the city as part of its ongoing expansion plans.
Joining Mowgli is award-winning independent restaurant Friska, offering healthy ‘grab and go’ hot boxes of ‘feel good food’, including bao buns, pho noodle pots, burritos and wraps.
This will be Friska’s third restaurant in the city having opened its first in Manchester in the Bright Building at Manchester Science Park in 2017 and a second on St Peter’s Square last month. The University Green restaurant, which is set to open in September, will accommodate up to 70 customers across a range of comfortable banquette seats, breakfast bar seating and long communal tables. It will also feature a ‘study space of the future’, including desk lights, power sockets and free wifi.
Mowgli and Friska join a previously announced line up comprising of the academic and general bookshop, Blackwell’s; design retailer Utility; artisan coffee house, Takk; restaurant and bar, Loungers; authentic American burger brand, Five Guys; Co-op Food; and international sandwich shop chain, Pret A Manger.
Situated in a key growth area within the Oxford Road Corridor area of Manchester, University Green is near to major institutions, research facilities and technological and cultural assets including Manchester Science Park, Manchester Museum, Manchester Academy, the Whitworth Art Gallery, Contact Theatre and the Deaf Institute.
Bruntwood and The University of Manchester’s £50 million Oxford Road regeneration project also includes public realm improvements alongside the newly enhanced and extended 350,000 sq ft Alliance Manchester Business School.
Complementing the redevelopment of University Green is a 210-bed Crowne Plaza Hotel and 116-room Staybridge Suites, both opening soon. More than 60,000 people are currently employed in the area and this number is expected to grow to more than 75,000 by 2020.
