A consortium of Chinese factory owners has pulled off a multi-million pound groundbreaking deal — thought to be the first outside London — by buying an historic listed building opposite Birmingham’s city council house.
The Grade II-listed office building at 130 Colmore Row was acquired, with the assistance of former Wragge & Co lawyers James Ng and Anthony McCourt, by a delegation of Chinese businessmen from Hangzhou. The consortium intends to develop the building into a Chinese-focused business centre, bar or restaurant.
The sale is believed to be the first property redevelopment project by Far East businessmen outside the capital. The Edwardian Colmore Row property, which measures 5,500sq ft over three floors, will undergo extensive remodelling. And with no shortage of funding the group is already looking at more Birmingham city centre sites.
With the London market over-heating, many investors believe there is a growing opportunity to increase Chinese investment in Birmingham.
“I have not found another example from any other core city where they have been able to do this,” explained McCourt.
“The fact we already had one commercial offer for half of the building before we bought it shows it is a popular asset. We aren’t going to rush into anything, but we are looking from office to leisure to governmental.” One possibility was for part of the building to be used as a Chinese consulate.
“In the last four or five months we have overcome the issue of convincing Chinese high net-worth individuals to invest in the city. There is lots of competition for this from Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Leeds,” he added. “But what I really like about the Chinese group we are working with is they are in it for the long-term.
“I think the key thing is we have come through a six-month conversation about the fact that we are buying something that could make money or could lose money. They are now a stakeholder in this city. They have a listed asset in the civic part of the city and now their focus is on creating jobs.”
The West Midlands counts China, on the back of the Jaguar Land Rover success story, as its number one export partner, and is the only UK region with an export surplus with the superpower. Property specialist lawyer, Ng, who once headed up Wragge & Co’s offices in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, said: “I have felt for a long time that one of Birmingham’s unique selling points was to have a Grade A office location for mainland Chinese people to do work in the city.
“One of my main desires is to see whether Birmingham could have a Chinese consulate. Manchester has one and I don’t see why we shouldn’t have one. This building would be ideal for that.”
