Grade II-listed office block sold for £7.8m

AVIVA has sold its property at 60 Spring Gardens in Manchester to APAM alongside its South African private client NPV International for £7.8m.

The property in the heart of the city at the junction of Spring Gardens and Fountain Street, is a 26,000sq ft Grade II-listed building originally designed by Alfred Waterhouse, who was also famously the architect for Manchester Town Hall.

The contemporary offic, is currently let in its entirety to insurance company Ageas UK with 5 years remaining on the lease.

Chris Taylor, director of APAM, added: “Through our extensive regional knowledge, investment and management experience APAM continues to target regional commercial assets across the UK on behalf of our diverse investor groups.

“In the past 12 months we have successfully invested over £600m into UK investment opportunities on behalf of our joint venture partners.

“The acquisition of Spring Gardens is the first of several ‘core plus’ acquisitions anticipated over the course of 2016 as we continue to grow our private client base, a key growth sector for the business.”

Peter Owen of APAM said: “We are delighted to have acquired 60 Spring Gardens, a fantastic building right in the heart of Manchester City Centre.  

“The building offers secure income over the medium term with multiple asset management opportunities over the longer term which we, using our local knowledge and expertise, look forward to delivering in the future.”

Will Kennon, director of CBRE who handled the sale for AVIVA Investors, said: “60 Spring Gardens was a highly prestigious investment sale mandate. 

“High quality assets of this nature are hard to come by and as such we attracted overwhelming interest from a range of buyers including UK Institutions, Property Companies and High Net Worth Investors.”