Property round-up: No.1 Norfolk St sold to Iraqi consulate; and more
MATTHEWS & Goodman has bought the freehold of the No.1 Norfolk St building in Manchester city centre on behalf of the Iraqi consulate.
The Grade II-listed, 26,700 sq ft building spread over basement, ground and four upper floors, was bought for an undisclosed sum. The consulate is now set to move to the building from its existing base at Oxford Court, which it has already outgrown since the consulate was opened in November 2009.
Dominic Evans, senior executive at Matthews & Goodman, said: “After an extensive search, No.1 Norfolk Street was identified as satisfying the stringent criteria required by the purchaser, notably flexible accommodation in a central location in proximity to good transport links.”
The property was acquired with vacant possession following the simultaneous surrender of the occupational lease to the former tenant, Deloitte, which has not occupied the building for several years. The sale was also subject to a successful application for a change of use, secured by Matthews & Goodman’s planning team, from office to consular use during the acquisition process.
Law firm, Cobbetts advised the Iraqi consulate alongside Matthews & Goodman while Fineman Ross and law firm Hilmi & Partners acted for the vendor, who was a private investor. DTZ acted for tenant Deloitte.
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RESIDENTIAL properties with guide prices of just £10,000 are among the lots up for sale at Eddisons’ September property auction in Manchester next week.
The firm’s next auction takes place on Tuesday, September 13 at the Premier Inn at Trafford Park. The auction contains a total of 123 lots, which is a mix of both tenanted and vacant retail, commercial and residential stock, as well as some development land.
A site at Eccles New road containing a tenanted retail unit with an apartment is on the market for £110,000 but generates annual income of £13,200, providing a potential yield of 12%.
Meanwhile, a former bungalow in Salterswall, just outside Winsford town centre, is offered with planning permission for residential development on behalf of the joint LPA receivers at a guide price of £75,000.
The former Acorn Community Centre with café at Burnley Road in Todmorden is also up for sale for £95,000-plus and can be converted for several other uses, subject to planning consents.
Andrew Brown of Eddisons said: “Throughout the first half of the year we have seen consistently high attendances at our auctions and strong demand for much of the stock.
“With traditional investment vehicles continuing to underperform I expect investors to continue turning to auctions, on the lookout for well-priced property which will provide strong rental returns or longer term capital growth.”
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PROPERTY consultancy Nolan Redshaw has been appointed by Northern Trust to market 39,122 sq ft of industrial units at Commonwealth Close, part of Leigh Business Park.
The firm is marketing 11 single storey industrial units, ranging in size from 2,504 sq ft to 4,536 sq ft. All units on the park, which is close to the A580 East Lancs Road, have office accommodation and benefit from a high level of natural light, with additional lighting provided by sodium lighting in the warehouse.
Neil Higson, surveyor at Nolan Redshaw, said: “Nolan Redshaw has worked with the Northern Trust on a number of schemes across the North West, such as Martland Mill in Wigan, and we are pleased to continue this relationship with the latest instruction.”
Nolan Redshaw is joint agent with Jones Lang LaSalle on the scheme.
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CBRE’s North West Industrial team and Littler & Associates have been appointed to market Martland 100 – a 100,000 sq ft industrial unit in Wigan on behalf of JJB Sports. The property is available either for sale or to let.
The building is close to J26 and J27 on the M6 and is on a park that includes Heinz, White Arrow Logistics and Ellsey & Co.
The building is flexible in terms of design and layout, with a removable three-tier mezzanine floor. When installed, the mezzanine increases the total floorspace of the unit to 350,000 sq ft.
Paul Cook, associate director of industrial agency at CBRE, said: “The industrial market in Greater Manchester is continuing to perform well, with units in prime locations still seeing a lot of interest from occupiers.
“Likewise, industrial property in Manchester also remains an attractive proposition for investors, delivering high returns and benefiting from limited depreciation.”
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A NEW phase of Housing Market Renewal is set to begin at Ponsonby Square in Liverpool.
MJ Gleeson is set to build 65 new houses and associated streets on land at Ponsonby St in Toxteth once a development agreement is agreed by Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet later this week.
Planning permission has already been granted for the development, proposing a range of energy-efficient homes of varying sizes, types and tenure, with some being made available as affordable homes.
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CLARENDON Square Shopping Centre at Hyde in Greater Manchester is now almost fully let following a spate of recent deals.
The firm signed up mobile phone retailer Phones4u on a ten-year lease last week following on from lettings to retailers Pound Bakery and National Cash Advance last month.
Centre manager Liam Mooney said: “Our letting agents Tushingham Moore and CBRE have been very active in 2011, which has in turn meant I have been kept very busy monitoring our new tenant fit-outs and store openings.
“As a result of these lettings we now only have two empty shop units and one of these is currently under offer.”
Other recent store openings have included Grainger Games, Game Zone and a new, larger Greggs store while Bon Marche, British Heart Foundation and several local retailers have all recently renewed leases in the centre.
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FAMILY-owned property and construction group Seddon has landed five new contracts in the Midlands worth £6.25m.
The Cheshire-based firm’s construction arm has won a £4.25m contract to build a new warehouse for iron castings manufacturer Castings plc in Brownhills, Walsall, a £1m deal to build a new sixth form at Kings Norton in Birmingham, and a £300,000 scheme to extend the Ruth Astles Building at Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham.
The factory for Castings plc will be a 45,000 sq ft steel-framed facility which will be built on waste land next to the existing Castings factory and head office on Lichfield Road.
Seddon will also create new car parking and an access road. The new building, set to be completed in January 2012, forms part of a major expansion by Castings.
Work at Cadbury Sixth Form college includes construction of a new classroom block next to the college’s main building and the refurbishment and reroofing of an existing classroom block. The work is due to be completed in December.
Other contracts won include a £485,000 deal to convert London House at Madeley in Telford into six self-contained properties adapted for disabled people.
Seddon Construction’s business unit manager Richard Sapcote said: “In what remains a challenging market for construction, Seddon’s ability to deliver competitively priced, high-quality new-build and refurbishment construction projects on time and budget is enabling us to continue to win work across a range of sectors.”
He added that the deals would help the firm to double turnover in the Midlands region to more than £10m.
