A development opportunity in Little Aston, close to Birmingham, with planning permission for a 22-bedroom care facility is expected to sell for more than £1m later this month.
The site on Rosemary Hill Road, guided at £700,000, is among 172 lots set to be offered by SDL Auctions Bigwood on 23 May, its largest catalogue to date.
“It is very rare that a site like this becomes available in an area such as Little Aston,” said Gurpreet Bassi, head of residential sales at the auctioneer.
The existing 17-bedroom property on the 0.72 acre site, known as House on the Hill, has been used previously as a care home and has consent in place for a larger facility. Bassi said it may also attract bidders looking at alternative uses.
The prestigious residential area is home to business owners, celebrities and Premiership footballers. James Bond star Roger Moore once owned a property on Rosemary Hill Road, which is close to Little Aston Park, often referred to as “millionaires’ row”.
Receivership lot
SDL Auctions won the instruction on the back of its recent success selling residential block Mulberry Court in nearby Sutton Coldfield for more than £2.1m last month. The receivership lot, guided at £1.8m, was sold prior after SDL called for best and final offers.
Bassi said instructions like these would previously have gone to London auctioneers but that vendors were “now starting to realise that they don’t need to go to London” to achieve the best prices on larger lots. Viewings for Mulberry Court attracted plenty of investors from “outside the patch” including from the South East, he added.
SDL introduced an extra West Midlands auction in March, which raised £13m and took its total sale events in 2018 to seven. Its biggest sale to-date was in December, raising more than £16m from 170 lots.
The May catalogue includes classic auction lots such as a vacant leasehold mid-terrace three-bedroom house needing refurbishment in Handsworth, guided at £75,000; a semi-detached cottage in Wolverhampton, guided at £50,000; a mid-terrace property in Handsworth divided into two flats, which are vacant, guided at £50,000; and further afield, Elm Cottage, in Cropthorne near Pershore, a Grade II-listed detached two-bedroom property guided at £137,000-plus.
The sale will take place at Aston Villa FC.
Commercial lots
More former bank premises will go under the hammer at SDL’s sale, amid further branch closures.
The former NatWest Bank in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, in an established retail location, is guided at £170,000-plus. In Leicester, the former NatWest bank at 145 Evington Road will also go under the hammer. The three-storey building close to Leicester University in Stoneygate is guided at £175,000-£200,000.
A former pub in Hockley in Birmingham also offers conversion potential. The Queen’s Head in Farm Street has a guide price in excess of £225,000. And a former police station in Smethwick, used as offices for the past 40 years, could also be ripe for residential redevelopment. The 2,130 sq ft block is guided at £325,000-£350,000.
Ian Tudor, head of commercial auctions, said commercial properties with conversion potential had become more saleable since government changes to permitted development rights came into force.
“I don’t think it’s necessary to have PDR in place to get a good price, but people are obviously more aware that it may be easier to convert,” he said.
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