Property round-up: DTZ charged with Voltage Park disposal; bids invited for Aphrodite; and more
DTZ has been appointed by National Grid to sell off its 67-acre Voltage Park site in Partington.
National Grid is looking to sell off the freehold to the entire estate, but will consider offers for its constituent parts. The site has outline planning for over 1m sq ft of industrial warehouse space, including space for a 300,000 sq ft unit and a 200,000 sq ft unit.
It was also recently earmarked for employment use by Trafford Council in its recently-adopted core strategy.
Tony O’Keefe, director at DTZ, said: “The site and would be suitable for a variety of uses including warehousing, manufacturing or environmental.
“The site comes to the market at a time when supply of consented sites is limited; we hope to receive strong interest in it.”
Birtwistle PC has been appointed as as sub-consultant.
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COLLIERS International has been appointed to find an operator for the Aphrodites Boutique Hotel at Bowness-on-Windermere.
The hotel has undergone £1m refurbishment which has seen its 17 bedrooms transformed around individual themes such as James Bond, Robin Hood and Tarzan & Jane. 
Some of the rooms have four-poster beds, hot tubs and spa baths, and the hotel also has a spa and treatment centre and a heated pool. The hotel is set in a secluded area at the top of Longtail Hill near Bowness Village. It recently featured on Channel 4’s Four in a Bed programme.
An asking price of £395,000 has been set for the lease, and Colliers’ hotels director Haydn Spedding said: “It’s not often that a property of this calibre becomes available, offering a fantastic business opportunity for such a reasonable price.
“This is a beautiful and highly individual property as well as a very successful business.
“With its superb location, high quality unique accommodation and excellent marketing, the hotel has an outstanding level of both takings and profitability rarely seen at this level even in the Lake District.”
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A LARGE former showroom on one of the main routes into Warrington town centre has been put on the market for £495,000.
The 27,866 sq ft building had previously been home to the Kingdom Mill furniture warehouse, while the Fireplace and Appliance Company continues to occupy around a third of the building under a short-term tenancy.
Sanderson Weatherall has been appointed by Mark Swiers and Daniel Hardy as joint fixed charge receivers to market the building to retailers and leisure operators.
Rory Dillon, corporate services surveyor in the Manchester office of Sanderson Weatherall, said the entire site was suitable for redevelopment for similar roadside retail, leisure or trade counter use, subject to planning.
He said: “This represents a rare and outstanding opportunity to acquire a prominent, roadside development opportunity on a busy arterial route into Warrington.”
The site is opposite the Pinner Brow retail park which includes retailers such as Wickes DIY, CSL Sofas and Storey Carpets.
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THE Manchester office of Christie + Co has been appointed to sell the Ocean Café & Bistro on a busy site at Wavertree Road in Liverpool.
This 50-cover café/restaurant/bistro is a brand new building offering a ready-to-go café/restaurant. It also comes with eight-bedroom loving accommodation, which is accessed via its own entrance. However, due to the vendor’s ill health it has never been fully operational.
Martin Thompson, who is handling the sale for Christie + Co, said: “This is a brand new building which offers a potential purchaser well-equipped and well-appointed business premises.
“It is located in a busy area very close to Liverpool’s university campus.”
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DEVELOPER Argent is to launch a drop-in facility for small firms and freelancers at The Hive office development in Manchester.
The space has been branded as The Classroom and is free to join and use, although registration is required.
Angela Fielding of Argent said: “We’ve decided to set up the Classroom at the Hive to create a new space for people to use as a drop-in office.
“It can be used for a quick catch up on work in between meetings in Manchester city centre or a spot for freelancers and small companies to use as an extension of their own office.
“There’s so many ways to use the Classroom and it’s our way of helping to support young, growing companies based in the Northern Quarter and other parts of Manchester.”
The walls of the Classroom are also available to artists who would like to 
exhibit their work – the first exhibit is by local digital artist Andrew Brooks.
The Hive is an 80,000 sq ft building on Lever St which is a joint venture between Argent and Manchester City Council. The building completed in 2010. Existing tenants include Arts Council England, which occupies 18,000 sq ft and serviced office operator The Studio (12,500 sq ft). Space remains available from 1,000 sq ft to 40,000 sq ft.
To register, visit theclassroom-mcr.co.uk.
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PARCEL distributor Yodel has agreed a deal to take on a 102,855 sq ft high bay warehouse at Stakehill Industrial Estate in Middleton.
The company has signed a ten-year lease, with a five-year break clause at a headline rent of £3.95 per sq ft for the unit, which has recently been substantially refurbished. The deal is the largest industrial letting to date in Greater Manchester in 2012.
Jones Lang LaSalle and CBRE acted on behalf of landlord Ventnor.
Daniel Burn, a director of Jones Lang LaSalle’s national industrial and logistics team, said: “With its high-quality refurbishment and excellent specification, we were always confident of achieving a successful disposal of this unit.
“This deal reaffirms the lack of good quality existing distribution warehouses over 100,000 sq ft across Greater Manchester and the wider region. We are now finding that occupiers are having to consider long term build-to-suit solutions or compromise their requirements by acquiring more secondary space.”
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AN ELECTRONICS And cable assembly company from Basingstoke has relocated its UK headquarters to The Parks office development at Haydock, near Warrington.
The company has taken a 1,205 sq ft unit at the park, which is owned by Bilsdale Properties.
Ged Riley, vice-president of Sales (Europe) at Lorom, said: “Lorom prides itself on customer service and local engineering support to offer best in class service and the Haydock office will allow us to support the significant growth we have seen in the region. We have seen significant growth in our customer base and level of interest in our products and solutions.”
Other tenants at the park include Barhale, Phirst Group and Woodward Solicitors. Joint agents Bailey Deakin Hamiltons and Jones Lang LaSalle are marketing the last two offices suites – one of which is currently under offer with the last remaining available suite being 1,813 sq ft.
