Agents pick the most significant Deals (for the six months to the end of March 2016)
Moxy Hotel, Hungate, York
Type of deal Land sale
Vendor Hiscox
Purchaser Vastint Hospitality
Size 120-bed hotel on 0.4 acre site
Price Undisclosed
Chosen by Jonathan Shires, senior director, office agency, CBRE
Vastint Hospitality’s purchase of this prime site for the creation of a purpose-built Moxy Hotel represents a significant investment into York and, I believe, it will also deliver a unique and fresh addition to the city’s hotel scene. The site is adjacent to Hiscox’s £19m customer experience centre which has already drawn a significant amount of attention to the Hungate area of York and undoubtedly played a major part in attracting the investment of the new hotel.
For its part, Hiscox hasn’t just created an office building, it’s a piece of art and a statement of commitment of the city, which has even become part of the city’s tourist route. The creation of what is a dynamic, architecturally significant office building and this subsequent land sale are, together, pioneering the regeneration of the Hungate area – bringing back into use the former ambulance station site and creating valuable jobs and investment for the region.
Raynham House, Capitol Park West, Tingley, Leeds
Type of deal Leasing
Owner Sterling Capitol
Tenant Barratt Homes
Size 12,700 sq ft
Terms £16.50 per sq ft on a five-year lease
Chosen by Elizabeth Ridler, partner, office agency, Knight Frank
Barratt Homes’ decision to move to Capitol Park is one of the most significant out-of-town office deals of the past six months, a telling indication that confidence is returning to the Yorkshire out-of-town business park market. Sterling Capitol has created one of the most impressive parks in Yorkshire and this high-profile deal proves business locations of this kind remain popular in a rapidly improving economic climate.
Barratt had a requirement for self-contained, quality office space in a location with good connections for more than 90 employees. Capitol Park, located by junction 28 of the M62, ticked all the boxes. I believe the deal also shows successful companies, such as Barratt Homes, want premises which reflect their profile and reputation. Meanwhile, the renaissance of the Leeds out-of-town office market was further endorsed by the letting of just over 10,000 sq ft at Leeds Valley Park to Wates Construction.
Allerthorpe Business Park, Pocklington, near York
Type of deal Sale
Vendor London and Pocklington LLP
Purchaser Bond International
Size 129,500 sq ft plus two acres
Price £5m
Chosen by Miles Lawrence, director, Lawrence Hannah
This deal demonstrates perfectly that a comparatively unfashionable location such as East Yorkshire can prove extremely attractive to investors when an established business park, with quality tenants on strong, long-term leases, comes onto the market. Allerthorpe Business Park boasts prime industrial and warehouse units, the majority of which are occupied, with tenants including several successful local companies.
A crucial aspect of this sale, also notable for being one of the largest in the area for some years, is the shortage of high-quality, large modern industrial units in the region. That is why three units, comprising 129,000 sq ft, fetched a substantial £4.5m, while two plots sold for £380,000 and £125,000. Fittingly, purchaser Bond International is a hugely-successful local company, based in Pocklington, which is the only independent supplier of wholesale trade tyres in the UK. It was keen in invest in commercial property close to home and this was the perfect opportunity.
Tower powers ahead
Carillion, in partnership with the HCA, received the go-ahead for its Tower Works scheme at Leeds South Bank – comprising office, retail, leisure and residential space.
Sheffield puts KF on top
Knight Frank topped a league table for Yorkshire property agents having acted on, among other things, one of the region’s largest recent deals, the sale of Velocity House to the University of Sheffield.
Caddick can dig it
Caddick Developments was given outline consent for its £150m redevelopment of Quarry Hill in Leeds city centre, comprising office, leisure and retail space and 700-plus homes
Hudson conversion
Palace Capital unveiled plans , under PDR, for the conversion of Hudson House, a 103,000 sq ft office building close to York railway station, into 139 apartments.
Doncaster steams ahead
Approval was given for the £25m National College for High Speed Rail at Lakeside, Doncaster, where a skilled workforce for HS2 and other projects will be trained. Doncaster mayor, Ros Jones, said plans were progressing at “a rapid rate of knots”.
BIS out of Sheffield
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills announced that it plans to close its Sheffield office, its largest outside London, by 2018.
EG gauges the trials and tribulations of the Yorkshire property market
7 things you need to know
Vital statistics, facts and figures for Yorkshire
Industrial
£6 per SQ FT
the figure that big shed rents in the region should reach and beat by the end of 2016, compared with the current £5.50-£5.75
£20M
the price placed on the Yorkshire village of West Heslerton being sold by estate agency Cundalls
17.8%
projected GVA growth for Leeds 2015-2025 compared to 20.4% for Manchester
860,000
population growth expected for Leeds by 2028
Investment
£31.5M
the price paid by Hermes REIM for The Round Foundry in Leeds, making it the city’s most notable investment transaction for 2015
£7.9bn
amount contributed to the UK economy by Sheffield’s Meadowhall since it opened 25 years ago
Fixed overheads
68%
the percentage of companies in Leeds seeking to reduce their fixed overhead commitments, compared with 53% of firms in Sheffield
