Property developer makes city centre acquisitions

Property development and investment company Philip J Davies Holdings (PJD) has completed two off market purchases in Manchester city centre.

The first acquisition is Express Networks 1 and 2 in Ancoats, adjoining the Northern Quarter, which PJD has bought from Artisan Holdings for around £6m. The listed buildings sit behind the former Daily Express building.

Express Networks 1 comprises 25,000sq ft of office accommodation over three floors and is made up of smaller suites. The building is fully let to a number of local tenants.

Express Networks 2 comprises 12,000sq ft and is currently vacant.

The buyers, PJD owner Mark Davies, and Darryl Lee, who joined the company in 2014, intend to immediately refurbish Express Networks 2 and hope to bring it to the market by mid 2018.

Express Networks 1 will be improved over time.

The second acquisition is 19 B Quay Street which comprises 5500sq ft over four floors.

The refurbishment of this building will begin in spring 2018.

PJD Holdings has already invested in Manchester city centre. At Sevendale House, in the Northern quarter, it comprehensively redeveloped a grade II-listed building to provide over 60,000sq ft of office space and 30,000sq ft of retail and leisure space.

Davies said: “We are excited to be taking on these three new projects. We have been looking for some time to make acquisitions in the city centre with potential to enhance value through refurbishment and pro-active asset management. Darryl and I are delighted to have made not one but two off market acquisitions at a time when finding opportunities like this in the city centre is so difficult.

“Our intention is to refurbish both buildings in a considered way, to provide modern attractive space in keeping with the location of each building, much in the way we did at Sevendale House. We feel that both purchases are in great locations which can expect to see considerable improvement over the next few years.”

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