Property Round-Up: £1.3m for Spinningfields flats, Hurstwood, Deloitte Real Estate…
MANCHESTER letting agent Wren Properties has bought 10 one-bed flats in Spinningfields for £1.3m.
The Didsbury-based firm, owned by the Robinson family, has acquired the apartments at the Leftbank development from Irish insolvency firm Kavanaghfennell.
DTZ, which acted for the vendor, said the flats were occupied and produce an annual rent of £94,320. The sale price reflected an initial yield of around 7%.
Associate director Michal Skotny said: “The sale price shows the current strong level of investor appetite for well located quality apartment portfolios from both regional and London based investors.
“A total of nine competitive bids were submitted, with the level of offers testament to the attractive lot size and the income and return fundamentals supported by strong rental demand. This was coupled with the ability to achieve a break up of the portfolio within a reasonable timescale. The yield of 7% is an excellent result, particularly given that service charge levels at the development have increased by approximately 30% over the past five years.”
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PROPERTY group Hurstwood is to convert Bolton’s former Mechanics’ Institute into student accommodation.
Its Crystal Property and Land division has been granted planning permission to create six student flats with a total of 37 bedrooms.
The Mawdsley Street building is currently divided into a number of rooms spread over three floors and was most recently used as a fitness club.
Crystal said it had already spent over £100,000 to improve and maintain the building.
Hurstwood’s chairman Stephen Ashworth said: “Our Mawdsley Street property lends itself to student accommodation. It is already divided into a number of small rooms over three floors and features a great deal of character. The building is only a 10-minute walk from the university and is ideally located within the town centre, close to the shops and amenities.”
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COOL Designs, UK distributor of Toshiba air conditioning and heat pump systems, is expanding into additional premises in Woolston, Warrington.
The business currently occupies Unit 16 at Cranford Court and is expanding into the 2,985 sq ft Unit 17 after acquiring the premises from landlord Chancerygate Group for £140,000.
Andy Backhouse, associate director industrial and logistics at the North West office of real estate advisors Colliers International in Manchester, acted for Chancerygate.
He said: “In these difficult economic times it’s pleasing to accommodate the growth plans of an expanding business such as Cool Designs. The company also has premises in the West Midlands but decided to expand at Warrington because of its excellent location close to the motorway network.”
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JON Lovell, a Manchester-based director of Deloitte Real Estate, is heading to Hong Kong to chair a debate on the challenge of balancing growth with urban sustainability at the Pacific Cities Sustainability Initiative (PCSI) Forum.
He will lead the ‘Cities of Growth’ panel where global institutes will debate topics such as how development is driving migration and housing markets.
Mr Lovell chairs Pro Manchester’s Green Economy Group and is a board bember of the soon-to-launch Manchester-China Forum, said.
He said: “There’s no doubt that the debate in Hong Kong will raise all sorts of critical issues concerning the impact of rapid urbanisation in the Pacific Rim, both within the region and globally.
“For me, one of the core issues will be to explore how the challenges of urban transition and retrofit in Europe and North America can yield transferable solutions, skills, and experiences to support the delivery of resource efficient and climate-adapted built environments in Asia, and vice versa.
Other panel members taking part in the three-day event include World Bank, World Green Building Council, Asian Development Bank and Cisco Systems.
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MANCHESTER property developer, Property Alliance Group (PAG), has let a 15,000 sq ft industrial unit on Alliance Business Park in Alfreton, Derbyshire, to plastic products supplier Strata Products.
The firm, currently based at Brookhill Industrial Estate in Nottinghamshire, has taken the unit for six months.
Strata Products, established in 1987, supplies plastic products to the recycling, garden, home, office and baby industries.
