North West-based investor-developer the HIMOR Group has bought the 18,000 sq ft Clarence House office building in central Manchester from a private investor for £2.8m.
The five-storey building, which is vacant, sits within Manchester’s central business district. The firm intends to carry out an extensive refurbishment to provide grade A office accommodation, which will be ready for occupation this summer.
HIMOR and recently launched sister company STRATMOR, which are part of the Ainscough group of companies, plan to occupy one floor within the scheme.
The purchase of Clarence House is HIMOR’s third central Manchester office building acquisition since it formed in 2009. It bought the 72,000 sq ft Ship Canal House from Catalyst Capital for £22.9m last year, and previously owned 40 Spring Gardens, which it sold to Climate Change Capital for £47.5m in 2010.
Will Ainscough, managing director of HIMOR, said: “2011 was a strange year for us. We made some high profile acquisitions, including Ship Canal House and Bramhall Village Square, but at the same time our portfolio was not immune to the vagaries in the regional property market. We worked twice as hard just to maintain the income levels of our existing properties. Although there is still a lot of uncertainty, we maintain our belief that good assets should perform well over the long-term horizon.”
CBRE and Lockett Loveday McMahon represented HIMOR; WHR Property Consultants acted on behalf of the vendor.
daniel.cunningham@estatesgazette.com
