After announcing that Manchester was high on its acquisitions hit list, investment manager Kames Capital has paid £17m for one of the city’s iconic office buildings. The sale comes less than 24 hours after property investor, Boultbee Brooks, snapped up a business district block for more than £6m.
Kames — whose Edinburgh and London offices handle around £55bn for its UK and international clients — purchased the The Hive (pictured) on Manchester’s Lever Street from its developer Argent. The 80,000 sq ft block is the only Grade A office building in the city’s Northern Quarter.
“The sale of The Hive to Kames Capital shows the strength and quality of the building we developed in partnership with Manchester City Council,” commented Argent’s managing partner, David Partridge. “There is a very exciting mix of tenants in the building, whose enthusiasm and commitment to the space has no doubt helped attract the buyers.”
Designed to offer 2,500 sq ft-plus flexible work spaces, The Hive’s occupants include Arts Council England, award winning 5plus architects, Gooey Creative, the consumer insight company Join The Dots, Online Ventures Group, Fatsoma, Spacemen Creative and Bakerie Wine Store.
Jones Lang LaSalle director, James Porteous, advised Kames on the purchase of what he described as “one of the greenest and most cost effective buildings” in “what is fast becoming a very sought after location” in Manchester.
Another investor targeting the North West capital is Boultbee Brooks Real Estate (BBRE). Just hours before the Kames deal it paid £6.5m for St James’s Court, a 38,000 sq ft office building close to King Street and Spring Gardens. The acquisition — from regional commercial property owner the HIMOR Group — follows BBRE’s purchase last week of Croxley House for £5.5m.
It immediately announced plans to redevelop the five-storey, St James’s Court property, “to create high quality office space and utilise various terraced atrium areas to provide a rooftop garden,” explained director, Roger James.
For HIMOR, spokesman Will Ainscough, said: “We will now look to reinvest the money into brownfield strategic planning opportunities throughout the UK.”
