Property round-up: Bliss Hotel: Archway Homes; Butcher & Barlow; Bowland Inns & Hotels
Administrators of Southport’s Waterfront Hotels have received interest since their appointment, they revealed today (December 14).
Paul Davies and Sandra Mundy, partners of James Cowper Kreston, were appointed joint administrators of Waterfront Hotels (Southport) Limited and Waterfront Southport Properties Limited on September 28, 2022.
Since their appointment they have been seeking buyers for the business as a going concern and have received a number of expressions of interest that they are pursuing.
They said further updates will be issued in due course.
In October the joint administrators instructed Savills to bring the property to market.
The Southport Waterfront Hotel is the only four star hotel in Southport, and is being marketed on behalf of the administrators of Waterfront Hotels (Southport) Limited and Waterfront Southport Properties Limited, the beneficial owners of the hotel, known as Bliss Hotel.
The international real estate advisor is inviting offers for the hotel, held on a long leasehold with 235 years unexpired.
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Archway Homes’ The Poplar
Chester-based Archway Homes has acquired two new sites for the development of 25 homes.
The family-run homebuilder, which specialises in small select developments of executive homes, has finalised land deals for sites in Upton-on-the-Wirral and Whitby, near Ellesmere Port.
The 0.71 acre site in Upton, at the junction of Ford Road and Merrills Lane, was purchased with planning consent for eight homes, four pairs of semi-detached homes with accommodation over two and two-and-a-half storeys.
Archway has undertaken material amendments to the approved designs to better suit the aspirations of the local market and bring them closer to the company’s recognised style. The site will be marketed as ‘Church Mews’ with groundworks starting prior to Christmas and construction scheduled for a start early next year.
At Whitby, Archway has purchased a 1.87 acre plot off Chester Road. The site is occupied by a masonic hall which closed in 2020 as a result of the pandemic.
Planning has been obtained for 17 properties, which will be marketed as ‘Silverne Place’ and will comprise 11 three- and four-bedroom detached homes, a pair of three-bedroom semi-detached homes and four one-bedroom apartments. Five of the homes will be offered as affordable housing through Muir Housing. The site includes areas of soft landscaping to promote biodiversity.
The two new land acquisitions mark a programme of planned growth for the Cheshire builder following exceptional sales in 2022.
Managing director Jonathan Hill said: “We are confident that these two sites will appeal to buyers looking for a property on a small exclusive development, which provides all the benefits of a new home but is built to traditional standards.”
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Cheshire Green Industrial Estate
North West law firm, Butcher & Barlow, has recently completed more than £3.5m of industrial unit sales at a Cheshire business park.
The Bury-based firm, with 11 offices across the North West, handled the sale of two semi-detached industrial units totalling 30,000 sq ft of space at Cheshire Green Industrial Estate in Wardle, Nantwich, for Spitfire Property Holdings.
These deals are just two of a number of deals handled by Butcher & Barlow for Spitfire Property Holdings over the past two years and reflect the growing demand for high quality industrial space.
Daniel Woodcock, partner in the commercial property department at Butcher & Barlow, said: “Industrial property deals have gone from being the poor relation of commercial property work to the place where it’s all happening. Deals like this involve a greater depth of legal expertise – the preparation of investment-grade leases and intricate development agreements in addition to the subsequent investment sales work make them more complex.
“There is, therefore, an interaction between development work and investment work at quite a high level and involving significant values, and we’re finding we’re doing more of this type of work.”
Butcher & Barlow has handled a number of deals for Spitfire Property Holdings over the past two years, from land acquisition through to development agreements, investment leases and sale agreements.
Cheshire Green is located off the A51 at Wardle, within easy reach of Crewe and Chester and 13 miles from junction 16 of the M6.
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The Assheton Arms, Downham
Bowland Inns & Hotels, the parent company behind Bowland Brewery and the James’ Places collection of hotels, inns and restaurants, has reached a lease agreement with the Trustees of the Downham Estate, for the Assheton Arms, leading to this iconic Lancashire country inn re-opening its doors under new ownership in February 2023.
James Warburton, the Bowland Inns & Hotels owner and chairman, said: “As a big admirer and customer of this wonderful pub, and past resident of Downham itself, I know just how fond of the pub people are.
“Thanks to the way Downham Estate manages its properties, the 18 months’ closure has been kind to The Assheton Arms. We just need a few weeks to warm the building through, refresh one or two things and we will be on our way. February 2023 can’t come soon enough.”
The Hon Ralph Assheton said: “The business lease of the Assheton Arms came back into the ownership of Downham Estate at the beginning of this year. Since then, we have taken the opportunity to carry out a number of essential repairs to the main building and its 12 letting rooms, as well as redecorating the exterior and sprucing up the garden areas.
“Our search to find the best way forward for the Assheton Arms as a business, a sustainable part of Downham Estate and a valued village and wider community hub, has resulted in the lease being awarded to Bowland Inns & Hotels. We couldn’t be more delighted and are confident that, with this local company’s excellent reputation and track record, the Assheton Arms will become, once again, a bit of a draw and one of the Ribble Valley’s major tourism assets.”
