The Commercial Estates Group (CEG) has paid almost £10m for a collection of seven plots within Holbeck Urban Village. It was the company’s second attempt to acquire the 5.8-acre Leeds city centre portfolio.
In 2005 CEG attempted to buy the entire Tower Works site, but was outbid by the Government agency, Yorkshire Forward. This time, offered as the “Holbeck Portfolio” by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), the company secured the assorted plots for £9.6m.
Located on Leeds South Bank, the portfolio is made up of a mix of cleared land, income producing buildings and vacant industrial premises. “This is a key city centre destination and CEG’s plans will mix some of the area’s historic architecture with iconic new buildings befitting of a new city quarter,” explained group spokesman, Jon Kenny.
“Our proposals, which we will be unveiling later this year, include a vibrant mix of high quality offices, residential, bars, restaurants and leisure facilities putting this new quarter on the Leeds city map as a place to live, work and visit.”
He said CEG has been considering the opportunity of acquiring the portfolio for some time following its other Leeds successes, particularly the 56-acre Kirkstall Forge brownfield site which it acquired in 2003. That scheme is well underway with a new railway station about to opened followed by 400,000 sq ft of commercial space and at least 1,000 new homes.
“We sought to acquire the Tower Works development a number of years ago and have been assessing the potential for the South Bank regeneration area for more than a decade,” Kenny continued.
“When the opportunity arose to acquire the ‘Holbeck Portfolio’, we were in a very strong position to swiftly appraise the opportunity and invest.
“We are now looking forward to working closely with Leeds City Council to invest in Holbeck and will be unveiling our exciting plans for this prime redevelopment opportunity in the coming months.”
Although planning consents have lapsed for the majority of the Holbeck plots, the area has always been deemed suitable for a variety of planning options, including offices and residential.
For RBS, Robin Dixon said: “We were delighted at the high level of interest for this portfolio from both local and national developers. To have achieved a sale in such a short time scale is extremely satisfying.”
CEG — which works with related entities to actively invest in a broad spectrum of property assets across the UK — was advised by Fox Lloyd Jones. “We, alongside CEG identified the importance of acquiring the Holbeck Portfolio in its entirety, rather than piecemeal, to create the platform for a comprehensive regeneration of this hugely important part of Leeds city centre,” commented the agency’s Paul Fox.
The portfolio was sold on behalf of RBS by Gent Visick.
