THE Mailbox complex in Birmingham is due to go on the market this week with a price tag of £118m – almost four years after it was put on sale for £200m.
In November, owners Alan Chatham and Mark Billingham announced they had appointed the Birmingham office of property consultancy GVA and real estate advisor CB Richard Ellis to asses the current market with a view to selling early in 2011 if the right offer came along.
It has now emerged that the former Royal Mail sorting office is ready for bidding with agents expected to target a select list of investors.
The Mailbox sales opportunity was referenced during a ‘Property Predictions’ seminar run by the Birmingham office of international property consultancy King Sturge today.
Investment partner Richard Goodall told delegates he expected overseas investment and foreign wealth to be a dominant player for prime UK property assets.
He said The Mailbox would be going on sale this week and was a likely candidate for such a deal.
He told TheBusinessDesk.com that agents working for Mr Chatham and Mr Billingham would most likely be focussing on a relatively small list of key targets for potential deals, with a likely initial yield of 7.5%.
Birmingham had already seen over £400m of overseas deals, the meeting also heard.
The news comes ahead of an official launch event later this month by Mr Chatham and Mr Billingham to mark the start of their new venture Chatham Billingham Investments.
The pair are planning to revamp the former home of the Birmingham Post and Mail and Sunday Mercury, in Colmore Circus.
They acquired the building in July 2009 for £5.2m, a fall in value of £9.1m from market estimates two years previously.
The Mailbox, which opened in 2000, is home to Harvey Nichols and BBC West Midlands alongside a range of cafes, restaurants and high-end shops.
The property entrepreneurs bought the site for £4.2m and placed it on sale along with The Cube for around £200m, in April 2007, but a buyer could not be found so it was taken off the market the following year.
Sign up for our weekly property news email: just click here
Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
