Property group snaps up prime city centre office space

A property group has acquired 31,504 sq ft office space in Exeter city centre as part of its continued expansion into commercial development and investment.

Acorn Property Group has bought 1-3 Manor Court through its commercial acquisitions arm First Oak.

Located at Dix’s Field, the property comprises a terrace of three office buildings arranged over four floors, with parking spaces for 78 cars.

The properties have been purchased part vacant and Acorn will be refurbishing the vacant buildings and will be marketing them to rent shortly.

Number 3 Manor Court represents just over 50% of the space and is currently let to a contact centre firm that provides outsourced sales, technical support, customer service and other business processes for large companies. This provides for an initial income of £271,298 a year.

“We will be refurbishing the two vacant buildings immediately and already have strong interest from potential occupiers,” said Dane Cummings, head of commercial at Acorn.

“This latest commercial purchase in the South West demonstrates our belief there’s considerable scope for asset management and commercial investment throughout the region, driven by a shortfall in quality office space and growing demand from an increasingly affluent local population.

“It’s our intention to continue our purchase of commercial developments and to explore investment opportunities throughout the South West during 2023.”

First Oak acquired more than £20m worth of commercial assets across the South West in 2022. The company hopes to double this figure in 2023, with an acquisition target of £100m by the end of 2024.

“We aim to purchase sites that will benefit from asset management, redevelopment or which represent solid long-term investments in the region,” added Cummings.
Lambert Smith Hampton acted on behalf of Acorn.

Head of agency for Lambert Smith Hampton, Tony Fisher, said: “We are delighted to have acted for Acorn Property Group in this purchase. Manor Court is a high profile site within the heart of Exeter’s thriving Business Community and the refurbishment of buildings number 1 and 2 will offer Grade A office accommodation.”