Royal Exchange up for sale
MANCHESTER’S Royal Exchange building has been put on the market with an asking price of £45.8m.
The grade II-listed building in Cross Street covers 280,000 sq ft and is home to the Royal Exchange Theatre as well as retail units and a shopping arcade.
Tenants include Molton Brown, Moss Bros, Starbucks, Accessorize, Whittard and Swarovski who contribute to an annual rent roll of £3m.
The Royal Exchange was Manchester’s cotton exchange with a number of different buildings occupying the site since the it was founded in 1729. Much of the current building was built in the 1870s and modified by Bolton architect Bradshaw Gass & Hope in 1921.
It is owned by PRUPIM, the property investment arm of Prudential, which bought it from the exchange when trading ceased in 1968. It expects a sale at £45.8m to reflect an initial yield of 6.25%. GVA has been appointed to sell the building.
GVA’s Mark Rawstron said: “The Royal Exchange is historically and architecturally one of Manchester’s most important buildings. It sits at the heart of the city’s prime retail core and is one of the city’s most significant sales of recent years.
“We expect high levels of interest from domestic and international investors and we are looking forward to selling this on to a purchaser who can really exploit the full potential and enhance the value of this wonderful building.”
