EG readers voted Fletcher Morgan and JR Smart respectively property adviser and property company of the year in the South West and South Wales. By Nadia Elghamry
Fletcher Morgan
Cardiff-based Fletcher Morgan must be doing something right. It has won the EG South West and Wales top agent accolade for three out of the past five years.
Other agents, who are not usually keen to trumpet a competitor, seem to like Fletcher’s straightforward approach.
“It is quite serious – which is a good thing. It always tell you what it thinks,” says one local figurehead. Another describes the agent as “performance driven”, adding: “Pound for pound, it is very effective on offices and A3/retail, and has good working relationships as a joint agent.”
Within the market, Fletcher Morgan is perceived as having an agency and development-led practice.
Landmark deals for the niche firm this year include the acquisition of the 14.5-acre former glass works site in Crindau, Newport.
The site will be regenerated for the agent’s client, Sainsbury’s, as part of a seven-year project that will also open up the area for a further regeneration scheme called the Crindau Gateway – a 27-acre site which will include 1,100 homes, 30,000 sq ft of offices as well as leisure, including watersports, and a hotel.
David Mullins, director at the firm, says the acquisition for Sainsbury’s in Cardigan of a site for a 30,000 sq ft foodstore and retail park is another recent high point.
But it has not been an easy year for anyone in the Welsh market, so what lies ahead for the practice? Mullins says: “If we had a magic wand we could wave, we would wish that the banks would start to lend on property and the Welsh Assembly government realise that Cardiff is the catalyst for future economic prosperity for Wales.”
That will be important as the market continues to try and get back on its feet. Mullins says that, before the general election was announced, the Cardiff investment market was showing encouraging signs.
He adds: “New buyers were in the market, and there was a gentle resurgence of interest. The quiet summer months will delay any upturn but, hopefully, September may herald some recovery of this early 2010 interest.”
JR Smart
The word Smart is synonymous with brave in Cardiff. Ask anyone what they think of the local developer, and its courage to build even in difficult markets keeps coming up time and again.
Huw Thomas, joint partner in charge at King Sturge Cardiff, says: “It is a long-established family company with very traditional values.”
He describes JR Smart as astute and well respected, adding: “It has got an internal construction team, which keeps costs under tight control.”
For example, the developer set about launching Capital Link, its 56,000 sq ft building, in May 2009 – smack in the middle of the recession. The building is now fully let. The firm sold the majority of its portfolio at the height of the last market cycle, so it was not exposed to falling values.
However, it is probably best known for its 7-acre holding on Tyndall Street. Here, planning is in for two buildings, with JR Smart starting work on the 37,000 sq ft Driscoll office building, which will kickstart the £150m Capital Quarter.
The building will be ready in time for a Christmas opening. By December next year, the company plans to have started another speculative building on Capital Quarter, this time of 70,000 sq ft.
Given the state of the market, it is probably not surprising that founder John Smart was recently crowned Golden Balls in the local press.
Peter Graham, director at Cardiff-based Stephenson Alexander, says: “The company just gets on and does it. It is committed and active. It is doing what you’d expect. It has got a big site on Tyndall Street that is the next one to take forward, but I do not expect it to do more. It has got to be cautious at the moment.”
JR Smart’s courage and confidence is something son Alex Smart makes no bones about.
Alex, who manages the development and marketing side of the business, has one wish for the next year, and that would be to get the banks moving.
“We have still managed to transact circa 20,000 sq ft of industrial space in 2010 to date, but we could have trebled that if the banks would lend money at reasonable terms to their clients to purchase commercial property,” he says.
