This purpose-built apartment block in Knott Mill is part of the "StayManchester" collection of buildings in the city centre that provide serviced apartments as an alternative to the usual hotel offering.  They say that, "StayDeansgate provides high quality one bedroom serviced apartments to guests looking for space, comfort, facilities and privacy for a stay of a few nights or more in the centre of Manchester."  The building sits on Deansgate and literally spans the River Medlock which flows beneath it into the Bridgewater Canal Basin in Castlefield.

In the 19th Century the site was occupied by "The Old Warehouse" which according to maps of the time was used for storing both cotton and flour.  The red arrow on the aerial photograph below points at the site in 1953.  You can see the Medlock passes under Deansgate before re-appearing between the warehouses.