Stalled Liverpool apartments development sold for £2.35m
Administrators for the troubled Victoria House development in Liverpool city centre have sold the building for £2.35m to a subsidiary of London-based AR&V Investments Limited.
Recovery experts at Dow Schofield Watts were appointed as administrators of Pinnacle Residential (Liverpool) Limited in April.
A national marketing campaign was launched to find suitable buyers for the property and generated significant interest.
The seven-storey former office building has planning permission for around 70 apartments and had been stripped to the shell prior to the administration.
The new owners intend to complete the transformation of the 27,000 sq ft building and refurbish to high-specification residential units.
Lisa Moxon, joint sdministrator and partner at Dow Schofield Watts, said: “We are delighted to complete the sale of the property for the benefit of the bank involved and for the many parties who had paid deposits to Pinnacle on a number of the proposed flats.”
Robert Diggle, director at Eddisons and agent for Dow Schofield Watts, said: “We’re delighted to complete the sale of this landmark city centre building and enable an empty building to be transformed.
“Significant interest was generated on a local, regional and national basis from a diverse range of end users whose plans for the building ranged from developing for residential apartments to apart-hotel, hotel and office use.
“Buildings in Liverpool city centre are highly sought after and demand a premium at this present time, and we’re pleased we have achieved an excellent price for the client.”
Aron Azouz, of AR&V Investments Limited, said: “We are excited to add a significant, prominent building in Liverpool city centre to our portfolio.
“We intend to carry out a comprehensive redevelopment of Victoria House and look forward to bringing a unique product to the market. Units will be available to rent from Summer 2020.”
Pinnacle Residential (Liverpool) is part of the Pinnacle Alliance group of companies.
The firm was also building The Quadrant student block in Shaw Street, Everton, with plans to sell the flats to overseas investors, but work stopped two years ago after the collapse of building firm PHD1 Construction.
Pinnacle Student Developments (Liverpool), the company behind The Quadrant, went into administration in January.
In Manchester, Pinnacle’s Angelgate scheme was also hit by severe delays, sparking protests in Hong Kong among investors who had bought apartments.
The company behind that development – Pinnacle Angelgate Ltd – was put into administration last year.
In April this year Far East Consortium (FEC) acquired the site of the failed Angelgate residential development in central Manchester for an undisclosed sum at an online auction.
The 1.96-acre Dantzic Street site had been standing empty since Pinnacle (Anglegate) went into administration in September 2017, having been granted planning permission by Manchester City Council for a £77m, 344-home scheme across two towers in 2013.
