Recent summers have started early and finished late, with little activity ?in the middle chunk of the year. ?This year is different and, importantly, ?it’s not a capital-centric story. Just look at Bristol.
We arrived at July with real momentum. UK commercial property returned 1.9% in the three months to 30 June, according to IPD. And Estates Gazette’s news pages have shown how busy the industry has stayed since: from Legal & General’s purchase of 70 Gracechuurch Street, EC3, to efforts to restart the stalled City of London Pinnacle skyscraper. Almacantar is busying itself on Shaftesbury Avenue, WC2, while there is the small matter of Sirosa’s £610m swoop for Shell-Mex House, WC2, one of the largest West End deals ever.
But it’s not just a London story. New York’s Avenue Capital Group is planning a £100m debut in the UK student market, acquiring a portfolio from the collapsed Opal Property Group. And, says IPD, eight of the UK’s cities recorded capital growth during the second quarter, led by Aberdeen, Cambridge and Guildford.
In Bristol meanwhile, take-up has finally shown signs of recovery in recent months. Accountancy firms such as KPMG and BDO are committing to the city and sizeable deals from Imperial Tobacco and the city council saw occupiers take 50% more space in Q2 2013 than at the same time last year.
Palmer Capital has acquired the £100m debt on Finzels Reach in the centre of town. The former Courage Brewery site is a major mixed-use regeneration project, started in 2009 and part completed, but in administration since the spring.
Completed is Bridgewater House, a 118,000 sq ft office building part-let to BDO, and the Malt House and Castle Wharf private flats. Planning permission exists for the Temple Building, a 164,000 sq ft speculative office, further apartment blocks with shops, as well as leisure elements. Overall gross development value is £225m.
It would be a brave call to commit to speccing further offices in Bristol, but Palmer’s move is a sure sign of renewed confidence in England’s sixth city.
Beware – if you pick up Peter Bill’s Planet Property, you’ll find it hard to put down. It’s a fascinating account of one of the greatest-ever rollercoaster rides. I have already heard a few I-can’t-believe-I’m-mentioned-only-once comments.
More interesting perhaps is who gets mentioned most. Well here’s a quick rundown. Land Securities trumps British Land, but Sir John Ritblat outscores Francis Salway. JLL edges out DTZ – just – while Alastair Hughes wins the most-mentioned agent gong. Nearly outscoring them all is Gordon Brown, however, who will be pleased to learn that he receives more than twice as many mentions as Tony Blair.
Two and a half years ago Estates Gazette revealed efforts to transform the 2012 Olympic media hub into an indoor ski centre after the Games. The plans were ambitious, we said, deploying an adjective favoured by journalists looking to sprinkle a little scepticism on a story. It was no great surprise that it didn’t come off; the bid never fitted in with Hackney council’s promise of a creative industries hub. The council stuck to its guns and no doubt a cava cork or two popped last night when BT Sport broadcast live for the first time from the building.
But good news, the plan has been resurrected. Westfield is to build the UK’s largest snowdome next to its Stratford centre. And the operator will be Malcolm Clulow’s Acer Snowmec, which conceived the original plan back in late 2010.
As well as indicating a degree of skepticism, the deployment of the word “ambitious” in a story can also indicate a desire to see something happen, even if the odds appear stacked against it.
