Property group sells Birmingham trading estate in £13m deal
A Black Country property group has disposed of a Birmingham trading estate in a deal worth £13m.
A & J Mucklow Group, based in Halesowen, said it had completed contracts for the disposal of the Bull Ring Trading Estate, located in Digbeth.
The identity of the purchaser has not been revealed.
In a brief update to the market, Mucklow said the industrial estate, which was built in the 1980s and extends to 63,828 sq ft on a 3.4-acre site, was valued in June at £5.4m.
The discrepancy between the recent valuation and the sale price gives some indication of the way property values in the area have sky-rocketed recently.
Mucklow has owned the trading estate for some time and at one stage had designs on redeveloping the site into a 500,000 sq ft mixed-use residential and commercial scheme – the latter featuring bars and restaurants, leisure, offices and retail space as well as a new public open space and car park.
Although it secured planning consent for the development in 2007, the scheme is thought to have fallen victim to the credit crunch which badly affected Birmingham’s commercial property sector.
Ironically, the trading estate is now slap bang in the middle of one of the city’s development hotspots.
The council’s £600m Smithfield masterplan for the redevelopment of the city’s wholesale markets, together with the recently-announced Chinese-backed Lunar Rise scheme, to say nothing of Connaught Square and the extension of the Midland Metro have made Digbeth a very desirable location and it would appear the developer has looked to capitalise on this.
The Lunar Rise scheme is particularly significant because it shows the massive capital reserves now at the disposal of Chinese investment institutions.
In this instance, PGC Capital, the Shanghai-headquartered boutique investment bank specialising in property development and private equity, has applied for planning permission to build 517 residential apartments on a car dealership site in High Street – just a few hundred yards away from the trading estate.
PGC intends to demolish the Renault dealership which occupies 75-80 High Street and replace it with a new residential block containing a mix of 263 one-bedroom, 252 two-bedroom and two three-bedroom apartments.
The plans also include ground floor commercial units, parking for 153 cars and secure bike space for all residents with the possibility of an on-site cycle repair workshop also under consideration.
The development will include two 10-storey blocks and one standing at 25 storeys which will be located at the intersection of High Street and Clyde Street.
Bull Ring Trading Estate
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