Period Manchester office, with £7.25m asking price, acquired by private family trust

Merchant Exchange, a period office in Manchester which was marketed with an asking price of £7.25m, has been acquired by a private family trust.

The site, on Whitworth Street West, had been owned by Aviva Investors.

The 25,821 sq ft six-storey building, sits immediately opposite First Street and HOME Theatre and backs onto the Rochdale Canal, and provides characterful office suites with period features.

The building is multi-let to a variety of tenants including BIMM, Curtins, Gardiner & Theobold and Ambition and currently has two vacant floors totalling 8,204 sq ft, providing for a rolling refurbishment opportunity, to move rents forward.

Paul Andrews, of Fletcher King, who represented the buyer, said: “We are delighted to acquire this investment for a long standing family trust client in this iconic location in Manchester and look forward to developing the asset to provide exceptional space for our tenants.

“Thanks to Paul Morris, our head of investment, and Craig Barton at Knight Frank, together with the team at Aviva.”

Knight Frank’s Craig Barton, who represented Aviva Investors, said: “Merchant Exchange is a popular office, in a good location and ordinarily our client would have liked to have held onto it, given their belief in, and commitment to, the city of Manchester.

“However, the office is on the small side given Aviva’s large scale investments elsewhere in Manchester and we are delighted to transact the opportunity to an investor who also believes in Merchant Exchange and we wish them well taking the building.”