Buyers close in on Arkwright House and Dock Office
TWO large grade II-listed office buildings in Greater Manchester are close to changing hands.
The 90,000 sq ft Arkwright House in Parsonage Gardens and the 61,000 sq ft Dock Office in Salford Quays have been on the market since last year.
They were acquired by US-based Kennedy Wilson when it bought a portfolio of distressed debt from Lloyds TSB, backed by Deutsche Bank.
It meant Manchester landlord Wrather Group lost control of the buildings even though it offered more than Lloyds received from the Kennedy Wilson deal, according to director Patrick Francis. GVA in Manchester was appointed the Law of Property Act receiver over the buildings in April.
There has been some speculation that GVA was struggling to generate interest in Arkwright House but receiver Roger Phillips told TheBusinessDesk.com: “There has been a lot of interest and we’ve had some very good offers. We’ve received quite a number of offers above the £10m asking price.”
The window for Arkwright House bids closed last week and a deal for Dock Office is expected to complete today. Wrather originally paid £18.5m for Arkwright House in 2010, and around £7m for Dock Office.
