Property round-up: Jam Works sold; JLL and p3 appointed on World Freigh Terminal hybrids; and more
A SIX-storey apartment block in the Ropewalks area of Liverpool has been sold for £1.9m.
The Jam Works, which has 25 apartments spread across five upper floors and two ground floor commercial units, was sold to a private investor by Sutton Kersh Commercial.
Jonathan Owen, director of commercial agency at Sutton Kersh, said: “The building is in an area that is popular with both students and young professionals and ideally located to benefit from the the current high levels of demand for rental property in the city centre.
“The commercial property sector continues to be heavily restricted by the lack of mainstream lending and overall economic climate.
“Despite these factors, there is strong demand from purchasers for particular property types and tenant demand is also seeing similar trends across various sectors and locations.”
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MAG Developments has instructed Jones Lang LaSalle and p3 property consultants as joint agents to market 16,000 sq ft of speculatively-converted hybrid business units at its World Freight Terminal at Manchester Airport.
The so-called hybrids have been created following a £250,000 overhaul and now comprise 50% of industrial warehouse and 50% of office space within the same unit.
An extensive, speculative, strip-out and refurbishment programme to convert the former freight sheds into the new hybrid business units, was completed for Mag Developments by Sale-based Preferred Spaces over the late summer and early autumn. The works included upgrading roofing, flooring and lighting.
World Freight Terminal provides 675,000 sq ft of warehouse and office accommodation across a 57-acre estate to the west of Manchester Airport, close to Junction 6 of the M56 motorway.
Jenny Smith, property manager at MAG Developments, said: “We have speculatively created these hybrid units as our research indicates that many SMEs and start-up businesses in the region require modern accommodation; which efficiently enables both the office and warehousing functions to be effectively facilitated in the same premises, as this is key to keeping costs down and maximising the use of space.”
Daniel Burn, director of Jones Lang LaSalle, said: “We expect a high level of interest in these hybrid units – a 50-50 split is quite rare and there are very few similar, modern spaces, with this ratio of office to industrial space currently available in the wider region.”
p3 associate Rob Tilley said the space would appeal to “hi-tech freight-forwarders, advanced logistics and mail order businesses – all of whom are attracted by the high levels of security and access to the global marketplace afforded by the airport location”.
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CONTRACT scientific research company Euprotec has moved into purpose-built offices and laboratory space at Manchester Science Park’s Corridor site after graduating from smaller premises at the nearby University of Manchester Incubator Company.
Euprotec works with biotech and large pharmaceutical companies to accelerate the discovery and development of new and improved medicines to treat life-threatening infections and respiratory diseases, including those caused by multi-drug resistant bacteria and so-called ‘superbugs’.
Dr Lloyd Payne, CEO at Euprotec, said of the decision to relocate to Manchester Science Park: “We have always aspired to move to larger, purpose built facilities and msp provided an excellent opportunity for us to do so.
“For a fast growing business such as ours, it is an important natural progression to ‘graduate’ from the incubator at UMIC and move to our own dedicated space with potential for further expansion.
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POCHIN Special Projects has completed a £250,000 conversion of Terra Nova School in Holmes Chapel, creating three new classrooms for students as well as adding additional storage space.
The project involved the conversion of a pre-existing garage and shed, as well as the merging of two existing classrooms to create three new classroom facilities for the school.
Pochin Special Projects’ operations director, Antony Pochin, said: “Terra Nova has a fantastic history and this is something that we needed to be sensitive of during the course of the project.
“The converted building was formerly a riffle range and there are still bullet marks in the eaves of the building, which have been retained, as reminder of the rich history of the school.”
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CHEAP Kitchens Online taken a new office suite from Hurstwood at its Hurstwood House building in Rawtenstall.
The company, which is also renting an industrial unit with Hurstwood at New Hall Hey Business Park, have agreed a 12 month lease on suite 6 in the recently-refurbished business centre.
