A new stream of commercial property is trickling onto the market. If you want to go and have a look, be prepared for one or more of the following: being told ‘stay behind the yellow line’, have someone affix a laminated card to your lapel, or have ‘shhh’ hissed at you from behind an old oak bookcase.
The economic climate of council cutbacks has placed numerous municipal buildings, including town halls and libraries, in the commercial property spotlight. The mix of prime location and historic architecture is increasingly seen by some cash-starved local authorities as a way to balance their credit-crunched books.
Hammersmith and Fulham Council are currently seeking to sell Fulham Town Hall, hoping the sale, along with eight other municipal buildings, will raise up to £14m.
Bids are reportedly being invited for the Grade 2 listed Victorian building, with the council requesting it be turned into a boutique hotel. Heritage architects Hawkins Browns, who refurbished Stoke Newington Town Hall, have been tasked with drawing up plans.
In boroughs where boutique hotels are less likely to flourish, available municipal property will be marketed in other ways. Poplar Town Hall, for instance, is advertised as a building with a variety of conversion possibilities for the commercial property sector.
One stumbling block to potential development is that many of the buildings across the UK have listed status, restricting commercial property possibilities.
Commercial property developers are advised to keep an eye on libraries, as up to 400 are reportedly at risk of closure. Some in prime locations such as Waterloo and Camden in London are expected to be up for sale soon, despite ongoing protests, sit-ins and petitions from groups opposed to the sell-offs.
In Oxford, the council is selling a former public toilet, for conversion into a flat. Whether a sit-in protest will take place there is as yet unknown.
