Creating enduring value
Manchester · Since 1989
Simply Luxury · Property
The Story
Founded in Manchester in 1989, MCR began with a simple belief: that overlooked property can become something far more valuable when it is understood, improved and actively managed.
More than three decades later, that belief drives a vertically integrated real estate investment and development business, still proudly independent, with more than 300 property professionals across Manchester, London, Birmingham and Glasgow.
Looking beyond an asset’s current condition to understand what a site, building or operating platform could become.
Investment, planning, development, leasing, asset management and operations working together, keeping decisions close and delivery accountable.
Places designed to perform over time: commercially, operationally and for the people who use them.
The MCR film
The Ascent
Scroll to rise through the history of the house. Every milestone lights another floor.
1989
Aneel Mussarat founds the business in Manchester, starting with traditional terraced housing and becoming an early mover in the Private Rented Sector.
1998
The portfolio grows to more than 1,000 properties across Manchester, and the business expands into retail, office space and strategic land.
2004
MCR enters student accommodation, delivering purpose built schemes in Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield, with Manchester Student Village joining the portfolio.
2014
A London presence is established, later leading to the Mayfair office at 58 Grosvenor Street.
2021
The Build to Rent platform launches through The Old Works and Stockwood Gardens. The pipeline now exceeds 5,000 homes.
2025
CityPark Glasgow, a 300,000 sq ft office campus, joins the portfolio alongside Moorside Monks Cross in York, while a £250 million facility with Pollen Street enables up to £1 billion of future investment.
2026
The £360 million Flow student living brand, a £123 million Prime Central London hospitality platform in Knightsbridge and Kensington, The Kensington Collection, and the acquisition of Manchester’s iconic CIS Tower.
One Integrated Platform
Investment, development, asset management and operations connected, giving every asset the expertise it needs throughout its life.
Landmarks
I · Manchester
Built in 1962, Manchester’s first skyscraper was the tallest building in the United Kingdom when completed. Grade II listed and home to the Co-operative Insurance Society until 2020, it now begins a sympathetic, sustainable new chapter with MCR, in the heart of NOMA.
II · Manchester
A 1,202 home masterplan on Gould Street, steps from the CIS Tower: homes, workspace, hospitality and public realm combining into one of the city’s most ambitious new neighbourhoods.
III · London
MCR’s first standalone hospitality brand, born of a £123 million Prime Central London platform across Knightsbridge and Kensington, with an ambition to reach £500 million in scale.
IV · Nationwide
A £360 million student living brand, operating homes in key university cities from Liverpool’s Unity Square to Sheffield’s Park Village, and racing towards 10,000 beds.
The Portfolio
From Glasgow to Exeter, Mayfair to Manchester. Touch any image to enlarge it.
The Complete Index
The Founder
“A generational asset.”
Aneel Mussarat on the CIS Tower, 2026
Born in Manchester, Aneel Mussarat bought his first property at eighteen and founded the business in 1989 with traditional terraced homes. An early mover in private renting and, from 2004, in student living, he went on to build one of the North’s defining property houses.
Thirty seven years on, he still leads with the conviction, speed and capital certainty that turned a Manchester terrace into a national platform of more than £3.5 billion.
Leadership
Momentum
Acquisition after acquisition across student living, offices, hospitality and landmark regeneration.
Offices
Opportunities
Acquisitions, partnerships, leasing and careers. The team welcomes every serious conversation.
Every story published on Simply Luxury, newest first.