Hermes buys Barclays’ Mosley St base

Hermes Property Unit Trust has bought the Citygate Court building at Mosley Street in Manchester city centre.

THE 47,000 sq ft building was on the market for £8.5m, representing a net initial yield of 8.5%. It was sold on behalf of Aegeon by Jones Lang LaSalle.

The building is let entirely to Barclays, which operates a branch at ground floor level and five floors of office space above. The bank has taken a reversionary lease on the ground floor with an option to renew its lease on the upper floors. It has occupied the space since 1989.

Acting on behalf of Hermes, Gary Scorah, investment partner at Manchester-based OBI Property, said: “Hermes had considered a number of properties available in the City but believed that Citygate Court was better positioned in the market and would show future resilience.  

“The building offered them a property within Manchester’s traditional core showing a healthy return from the current tenant but with future opportunity to asset manage should the opportunity present itself.”