A terrace of properties on Laura Place in Bath – one of the main settings in Jane Austen’s final book, Persuasion – is to be offered in a bespoke single asset online auction.
The Grade I listed office and residential properties at 10, 11 and 12 Laura Place are being marketed by Acuitus with a guide price of £4m-plus on the instruction of an executor. The sale will take place on 15 December.
They were acquired by the current owner between the 1960s and 1980s and total 16,877 sq ft, producing £226,773 pa. Two flats and two offices are vacant.
Laura Place was built for Sir William Johnstone Pulteney in 1788, and was named after Henrietta Laura Pulteney, who inherited the estate in 1792. Jane Austen wrote Persuasion in 1815-1816 and one of the main characters – the wealthy Lady Dalrymple – lives “in style” in Laura Place.
Peter Mayo, investment director at Acuitus, said: “The sale of these properties on Laura Place is a market first and a rarity not often seen sold via the auction route, and with that they hold a certain level of prestige. Originally created as townhouses but since converted to mixed-use, we could see these properties return to their original use, or into full office spaces.
“As buyers and sellers have got fully familiar with the online sales process this year, it has opened up the opportunity for us to hold single-asset bespoke sales as well as our regular programme of multi-property auctions.
“This brings a new dimension and focus to our sales service and means we can meet a selling client’s precise needs, both in terms of timing and providing a hugely effective route to market.”
The main Acuitus sale will be live-streamed on 10 December, with guide prices for lots listed so far suggesting a shift in buyer expectations. Vissalli House, a retail parade in Leeds (lot 6), is being offered with a guide of £1.4m-plus, reflecting a gross yield of 16.42%. In Otley, West Yorkshire, the Orchard Gate Shopping Centre and Bus Station (lot 9), where a large number of leases have imminent expiry dates, is listed with a guide of £1.4m, a gross yield of 20.43%.
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