FHP acting on behalf of private clients have recently acquired Imperial Building on Victoria Street in Nottingham for a price of £1.96 million from clients of Singer Vielle.

The property totals 14,500 sq ft and is let in part to City Centre Restaurants PLC, who in turn sub-let the property to Ark, whilst there is a bar/restaurant in the lower ground floor and 2 floors of offices above.

David Hargreaves, who acted on behalf of the purchaser, confirmed that the price reflected an initial yield of 9.1%.

The leases are relatively short-term, but we believe there is long term development potential including refurbishment of the offices and perhaps the development of the roof with penthouse office or residential accommodation.

The ground floor retail unit currently occupied by Ark is also suitable for restaurant use, for which there have been a number of requirements for this part of the City at the junction of the Lace Market and Hockley and which would benefit from external seating.

FHP, who introduced the opportunity to the Purchaser and negotiated the acquisition, have been retained to manage the property.

Singer Vielle, who represented the vendor, sold the property via their “Click to Purchase” bidding platform.

Acting on behalf of our client, Wilfrid Whittington Limited, FHP is pleased to announce the sale of Units 2 and 3 Wilford Grove.

The properties were constructed approximately 18 – 24 months ago and let at rent of £575 pcm, with an ERV of £600 – £625 pcm.  Each property comprises a ground floor living area with separate WC and fully fitted kitchen to the rear.  At first floor level there are two bedrooms and a separate bathroom.  The second floor consists of a bedroom with onsite bathroom facilities.  Each room has the benefit of a dedicated car parking space.

The properties were sold for a combined value to a private purchaser of £217,000, representing a gross yield before costs based upon the current income of 6.35%. 

Noel Roper of FHP who acted on behalf of Wilfrid Whittington throughout commented:-

“We are pleased to complete the sale of some further investments on behalf of our client’s Wilfrid Whittington.  These properties were built on the site of Whittingham’s previous depot and form part of a larger development of 9 houses arranged in two sections, six fronting onto Wilford Grove and three fronting onto Mundella Road”.

FHP has already acted on behalf of the Vendor’s in respect of the sale of the properties on Mundella Road.

END

I joined FHP in 2014 having previously worked for a surveying practice in West London focusing on office and industrial instructions within close proximity of Heathrow Airport.

I now form part of FHP’s Office and Industrial Team working from the Derby office where I focus on the sale, leasing and acquisition of office and Industrial premises in strategic locations along the M1, A50 and A38 corridor across Derbyshire and the East/West Midlands.

Acting on behalf of a long term private investor, FHP is pleased to announce the completion of the sale of the above well located student investment.

The property, which is situated on the corner of Forest Road and North Sherwood Street originally comprised a two storey dwelling house occupied for many years as an architect’s office and was subsequently converted into two student flats capable of accommodating 9 parties.

This property is extremely well let on AST’s for 48 weeks at rents of £85 per week.

The property produced a gross income of £36,720 per annum.  The net income was estimated at something in the region of £32,000 per annum. 

Terms were agreed relatively quickly once marketing commenced at a figure close to the asking price of £250,000 to show a gross return of 14.86% before costs.  It should be noted that some works of refurbishment/redecoration were required and therefore the purchasers did have to put in a certain amount of capital. 

Noel Roper who acted on behalf of the vendor commented:-

“We were extremely pleased to be able to achieve a sale of this property relatively quickly at an advantageous price.  In recent years there has been a substantial amount of conversion works of former offices and residential property into student accommodation within this area.  The property is very conveniently located for Nottingham Trent University.”

The purchaser, who represented themselves, are experienced property investors.

 END

FHP Property Consultants are pleased to announce the completion of the sale of 58 Derby Road, Nottingham occupied by Welch The Florist.

The property was held long leasehold on a lease expiring 2144 at a peppercorn.  The property was let to Welch The Florist on a lease expiring October 2019 at a rent of £14,000 per annum, subject to review in October 2015.  The current rent equates to £23 Zone A with £3.50 on the basement.

The property was offered for sale at a figure of £167,500 and a transaction was agreed at £162,500 which shows an initial yield of 8.35%.

The purchasers, who are a private property company, were represented by David Tanner of Tanners Surveyors. 

Noel Roper of FHP Property Consultants acted on behalf of the vendors, Lancaster Properties and Developments.  Noel had originally acquired the whole parade of shops over 10 years ago.  Due to a change in strategy Lancaster Properties and Developments decided to realise their interest in these properties and sales have now been completed on 50, 52, 56, 58 and 60 Derby Road.  48 Derby Road is being retained by the current owners as a long term investment.

Noel Roper commented:-

“We were delighted to be asked by Lancaster Properties and Developments to realise their interest in these properties.  The properties were sold to a number of individuals, private property companies and SIPP purchasers.  Small investments such as these are difficult to find located in satisfactory positions and therefore as a result we were able to achieve good sale prices showing yield of between 8% and 9%.”

If you would like any further information please do not hesitate to contact Noel Roper.

END

Noel D. Roper                         

Date:  02/02/2015

Tel: 0115 8411132

Email: noel@fhp.co.uk  

www.fhp.co.uk

Acting on behalf of their clients, Blueprint (General Partner) Limited, FHP Property Consultants are pleased to announce the sale of a self-contained freehold industrial unit located on the west side of Worksop Town Centre.

The property, which comprises a freestanding self-contained unit totalling 12,000ft², was let to Network Blinds on a lease expiring in November 2016, at an original rent of £54,000 per annum.

The lease was renegotiated reducing the rent to £50,000 per annum (£4.16 per ft²) for a term of years expiring November 2021 with a review in November 2019.

The price agreed was £570,000 which shows the purchasers an initial yield of 8.25% net of purchasing costs.

Noel Roper of FHP Property Consultants commented:-

“We were especially pleased to affect a sale of this excellent self-contained freehold unit once the lease to Network Blinds had been renegotiated.”

The purchasers, Vernon Holdings Limited, were a retained client of Brown and Company of Grantham represented by James Cameron.

If you would like any further information please do not hesitate to contact Noel Roper.

END

Noel D. Roper                           

Date:  12/01/2015

Tel: 0115 8411132

Email: noel@fhp.co.uk  

www.fhp.co.uk

FHP are pleased to announce the completion of the letting of Unit B London Road, Alvaston and the simultaneous sale of the created investment, following the sale earlier in the year of the investment created at Unit A.

The majority of the property is now let to White Cross Vets Limited t/a Pesco Limited.  White Cross Vets have been in occupation of Unit A for five years who are trading successfully and wish to expand.

As such terms were agreed for the letting of Unit B totalling approximately 3,000ft².

Earlier in the year Unit A which produces an income of £34,600 per annum was sold for a sum of £370,000 to show a yield of just under 9%. 

The purchasers were BNP Estates and following those negotiations terms were agreed for the purchase of Unit B for a figure of £175,000. 

It should be noted that there was a substantial rent free period granted in respect of the letting together with various works of repair which were required as part of the overall transaction.  The overall yield to the purchasers was circa 9.5%.

BNP Estates Limited, who are based in Leicester, were well represented by Naresh Patel of Spencers Druce.

END

A landmark building in Nottingham city centre has changed hands in one of the biggest commercial property investment deals seen in Nottingham for some time.

Chapel Quarter, a leisure and office complex which is in one of the most prominent positions in the city, has been bought by a pension fund for £25.55 million from overseas investors. The price paid represents a net initial yield – a measure of the return on investment – of 7.14%.

The deal has been hailed as a sign that large-scale property investors looking for good returns are beginning to snap-up high-quality regional assets as markets in London and the south east overheat.

Chapel Quarter sits at the junction of Maid Marian Way and Upper Parliament Street. It is home to a Holiday Inn Express hotel and a series of bars and restaurants – among them Las Iguanas, Fat Cat Cafe Bar, and ASK Italian.

The 145,000 sq ft building’s upper floors also house an office complex with tenants which include Thomson Reuters, Barclays Bank, web design and internet marketing business Adtrak, and Global Radio – which broadcasts Capital FM from the site.

The building has been purchased on behalf of the British Airways pension fund by David Hargreaves of Nottingham property consultancy FHP, who acted jointly with Steve Benson from GBR Phoenix Beard in Birmingham.  James Keeton and Matt Smith of Jones Lang LaSalle’s Nottingham office together with their Birmingham Office acted for the vendor.

David Hargreaves commented: “This is a significant deal on two levels. It is one of the biggest investment deals of its kind in the region, and it also shows that major investors are looking beyond London and the south east provided they can find substantial, well-performing assets.”

Chapel Quarter currently brings in nearly £1.93m in rent every year while its existing tenants are on leases which still have an average of 11 years left to run.

“So much investment money is chasing stock further south that it has driven prices up and squeezed returns,” said David Hargreaves. “To get value, those investors are now looking further afield with core cities like Nottingham coming on to the radar.

“The British Airways pension fund is a high calibre investor which has a reputation for improving the quality of its assets and we can look forward to refurbishments and reconfiguration which make the most of market opportunities and the building’s potential.”

The vendors were represented by the Nottingham office of JLL.

End

FHP acting on behalf of Byron Works Limited, a subsidiary of Megaclose, are pleased to announce the completion of the sale of the above property.

The property originally comprised a purpose-built factory acquired by Megaclose a few years ago.  They subsequently obtained planning consent for conversion of the property into student accommodation for some 32 beds.

The property was let on a gross income for the year ending 2013 of circa £154,000 per annum rising in 2013/2014 to £160,256 per annum and thereafter to a higher figure of £190,560 per annum for the academic year commencing August 2014.

The purchase price agreed was £1,850,000.  The investment showed a gross yield of 9.70% for the academic year commencing September 2014.  Internally the purchase price represented a figure of approximately £60,000 per bed.

Noel Roper who acted on behalf of Megaclose throughout the negotiations comments:

“We were delighted to be able to achieve the completion of this satisfactory sale on behalf of Byron Works Limited at what we consider to be an extremely satisfactory price equating to nearly £60,000 per bed.  Megaclose had spent a considerable amount of time and money refurbishing this property to an excellent standard.  This was reflected by the fact that at the time of the initial lettings the property was let for the academic years 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 simultaneously.  Furthermore, the property has provided substantial growth with the income rising to a gross figure of circa £190,000 for the current academic year”.

The purchaser, who is an experienced student investor, was unrepresented.

END

FHP acting on behalf of their retained clients, Hillary’s Commercial, are pleased to announce the completion of the acquisition of the above multi-let industrial estate.

The property comprised a purpose-built 18 unit multi-let industrial estate totalling 18,500 ft² erected approximately 35 years ago.

The property is arranged in two sections with 6 units fronting onto Hawkins Lane with the remaining 12 units fronting onto the service road and forming part of the courtyard development.

The property is let in its entirety on two coterminous leases to East Staffordshire District Council for a term of years expiring in March 2017.

Under the terms of the lease the local authority sublet the individual units.  The rent is fixed at 80% of the aggregate market rental value.

At the present time there is a current net income of circa £84,000 per annum which will rise as and when the head lease falls away to a figure of not less than £105,000 per annum.

Noel Roper of FHP who acted on behalf of Hillary’s throughout comments:

“We were delighted to be able to acquire this property by a private treaty to add to the already existing investment portfolio owned by Hillary’s within Burton-on-Trent.  This estate is well-established occupying a prime location within the Hawkins Lane industrial area.

It is the intention of Hillary’s over the next two to three years to carry out various works of refurbishments and improvement and to gradually increase the rental value of anything up to £110 to £120,000 per annum as and when the lease to the local authority falls away.

The purchase price agreed was £1,000,000 which shows an initial return of 7.8% and, more importantly, a reversionary return of 9.86% rising later on to in excess of 10 or 11% when the units have been refurbished and re-let at materially higher rents”.

Adam Burdett of Intali acted for the vendors, a private property company.

END

FHP acting on behalf of a private investor have purchased the Schuh unit at 31-32 Long Row, Nottingham via the Acuitus November Auction.

The property, which totals 9,757 sq ft and is leased to Schuh until 23^rd June 2016 at a rent of £167,500 per annum, was brought a price of £1.5 million, reflecting an initial yield of 10.5%

David Hargreaves, who advised the purchaser, confirmed:

“We know this property well, having originally acquired the unit for Schuh and although their lease is close to an end, we are confident that if they did not renew their lease, the property would be readily relettable bearing in mind it’s prime location overlooking the Market Square.

We have recently let the former Pizza Hut unit 2 doors away at a rent of £155,000 per annum to Five Guys with a number of under-bidders, whilst the upper floors in due course will potentially provide a development option for apartments/student accommodation.”

David Hargreaves finished by saying:

“Our depth of knowledge of the Nottingham retail and leisure market as well as the residential market adds significant value to our clients’ investments and so where other investors may be put off, we are able to see value.”

FHP have been retained to manage the property.

FHP acting on behalf of Robec Properties LLP have acquired a retail investment let to HSBC on The Square in Beeston.

The property, which provides a ground floor of 2,600 sq ft and totals 8,500 sq ft is let at a rent of £90,000 per annum until 2021 to HSBC.

The tenant has the benefit of a break clause in August 2016 with the price paid reflecting an initial yield of 10%

David Hargreaves, who acted on behalf of the purchasers, said:

“The property is situated in an excellent location in a town that is going through a substantial transformation through the refurbishment of The Square and the development of the new Tram line which runs close to the subject site and which should go live in 2015.  We do not expect HSBC to exercise their break clause in 2 years time, but if they do this property is readily relettable.  At £850,000 – 10% this is a fantastic buy.”

FHP introduced the opportunity and negotiated the acquisition with Allsop who acted on behalf of the Vendor.

I am predominantly involved in the office and industrial occupier and investment sectors advising in the leasing, sale and acquisition of property across the East Midlands and more specifically Nottinghamshire. I also advise on industrial developments and office to residential conversion opportunities.

Looking back, I feel that I’ve learned considerably more in the last near decade or so that at any other time in my 46-year career. That’s because at FHP, I’m surrounded by surveyors who are highly intelligent, highly motivated and extremely knowledgeable.

I buy and sell commercial investments and now sell a number of residential investments, mainly within a 40 or 50 mile radius of Nottingham, although I have bought properties on the south coast and elsewhere. FHP has helped me broaden my investment knowledge in relation to other markets.

I have been able to advise certain wealthy individuals on a considerable amount of investment and development funding situations whereby we have provided the finance for small time developers to be involved in projects far greater than any bank would have allowed them. This has given us an unrivalled expertise in the funding and secondary market within the East Midlands area. A large number of those projects have been highly successful although, admittedly, during the present economic times one or two schemes have been “moth balled” but however other ones are ongoing and are, (despite the present market conditions), now letting out well. However we are now coming out of the recession and are looking at pre-letting these outstanding development sites.

We believe that the market is slowly improving and there are certain special opportunities where we are taking advantage of market conditions to be able to buy sites and go and carry out developments.

In more recent years we have confined the activities to purely selling and buying investments. During the last 12 months we have received a considerable number of instructions to sell investments and providing they are correctly priced they do sell readily well.

Throughout my 11 years at FHP I thoroughly enjoyed working here with the other Surveyors and have hopefully been able to add to the profile of FHP in terms of the investment market. Despite the present economic climate we probably do more investment work than any of the other agents in the Nottingham area.

Life changes through being in recession since August 2007 and recessions don’t go on forever. We are slowly coming out of recessions, there are lots more lettings albeit soft deals but soon the development cycle will start again even if it is some 12/24 months away and there are lots of opportunities. The current availability of all the main sectors i.e. retail, office and industrial is shrinking and this will consequently lead to an increase in hardening in rents, disappearing incentives as far as the tenants are concerned, which will lead to the development cycle starting again.

I set up FHP back in 1990 alongside John and Brian, and I head up the Retail and Leisure Team who are one of the most dominant retail agency teams in within the East Midlands, and certainly the most active.

I went on to establish FHP Living, which is now one of the pre-eminant residential agencies in Nottingham, covering Land, Sales, Lettings, Management and Development. Our commercial and a residential companies now work seamlessly alongside each other, meaning we’ve been involved with some of the most forward thinking developments in Nottingham from the initial stages right through to sales and completion, including Trent Basin.

Prior to setting up FHP, I was the Director of Nottingham Development Enterprise Limited, a public/private sector organisation, and prior to that was a Governor of Nottingham High School and was Chairman of the Trustees at St Joseph’s School. Having graduated from Nottingham Trent Polytechnic in 1984, I previously acted as member of the Alumni Board at Nottingham Trent University, and was schooled and grew up in Halifax, West Yorkshire.

Having the privilege of a strong Admin and Back Up Team means that whilst I am responsible for the strategic thinking of the business, I still spend the majority of my time doing what I love, which is property deals.

The team mentality of FHP and strength in depth and quality of the people that we have in each of the individual teams means that whilst I do not handle all of the day to day instructions I know that our Client’s properties are in good hands.  I am still in touch with what’s happening through our team meetings every week and by sitting in amongst the agency teams on a day to day basis.

We have retained our entrepreneurial skills and whilst our teams are sectorally based we encourage a broad depth of knowledge – this has been fundamental to FHP’s continued organic growth through the worst recession that I have personally experienced.

Somewhat perversely I was personally involved in some of my largest deals during the recessionary period.  We are now seeing a greater cross spread of activity and demand across all sectors and I sincerely hope that the global / European economic uncertainty does not hold us back from continuing to achieve steady growth.

I do see however a current challenge as to how the market can provide the range and breadth of new business space development that the regional markets require to meet the emerging demand from the indigenous markets.

FHP have, acting on behalf of Private Investor Clients, purchased the freehold of 21-23 Friar Gate and successfully let the property to Las Iguanas who have recently opened their doors for trading. 

The pub which previously traded as the Varsity and then the Almanac has been brought back into life and is adding to the vitality of the Friar Gate location which continues to strengthen as a leisure destination.

FHP introduced the opportunity, negotiated the acquisition and concluded the letting to Las Iguanas. 

Ben Tebbutt of FHP confirmed:- 

“We have continued to monitor properties on Friar Gate as we know that Derby is on the radar of major leisure operators. We are currently targeting other locations and properties within the area and hope to be able to confirm further high quality names adding to the leisure/restaurant offer in this part of the Derby City Centre.

It is understood that the upper floors are likely to be developed for residential purposes in line with Derby City Council’s policy of encouraging inner city living within Central Derby”. 

FHP acting on behalf of private investor clients have purchased the freehold of 21-23 Friar Gate, Derby from the Administrators of Barracuda Propco 2 Ltd at a price of £420,000.

The pub, which previously traded as Varsity and then Almanac, has been bought to be refurbished and subsequently re-let.

FHP introduced the opportunity and negotiated the acquisition, with Gateley LLP acting legally on behalf of the purchasers.

The Vendors were represented by CBRE’s Leeds office.

Ben Tebbutt said that “Friar Gate is a strong restaurant pitch, with the likes of Pitcher & Piano, Bistrot Pierre and Zizzi and as a result we have had strong interest from national restaurant operators in taking this unit.  We hope to make an announcement with regard to the letting in the not too distant future.”

The intention is then to develop the first and second floors for residential purposes, in line with the Derby City Council policy of encouraging “City Living” in Derby.

End

Acting on behalf of Private Pension Fund Investor Clients FHP has acquired 6 St John’s Street, Ashbourne which is let to Barclays Bank.

The property is let in its entirety to Barclays Bank for 20 years from June 2007, i.e. expiring 2027. There is a Tenant break clause in 2022.

The property has been acquired for £325,000 which shows a net initial yield of 5.82% and a reversionary yield of 6.7% net of cost.

Noel Roper at FHP who advised on the acquisition confirmed:-

“It is hard to find good quality small investment properties for Clients – we are very pleased to have bought in Ashbourne which is a town which we like and know well. We continue to look for other opportunities on behalf of Private Clients and are actively searching for similar opportunities. We like Ashbourne and are attracted to the location as this position is showing a strengthening profile with Young Ideas, a high class fashion retailer, moving into the former Green Man Public House close by”.

For further information please contact Noel Roper – 0115 841113 / noel@fhp.co.uk

END

Noel D. Roper

FHP is pleased to announce the completion of the purchase of the Agrovista unit on Northern Road Industrial Estate, Newark.

The property comprises a self-contained warehouse building occupied by Agrovista for in excess of 20 years.  The building totals 8,835ft² on a site of some 0.878 acre and has site coverage of 22.75%.

The property is let to a very strong covenant of Agrovista for a term of 6 years from December 2013, expiring in December 2019 and with a break clause in 2016. 

The price paid after a competitive bidding situation was £351,255, which shows an initial yield of 9.48% net of costs, at a rent of £35,000 per annum.

Noel Roper of FHP who acted on behalf of the purchasers throughout commented:-

“We were particularly attracted to this warehouse investment because of the low site coverage and the capability of extending the property should the tenant exercise their break clause or not renew the lease.  The site was capable of accommodating another 7,500ft² or thereabouts and furthermore the purchase price was underpinned by the vacant possession value of not less than £375,000.  Consequently a purchaser had a number of options available to them should the tenant decide to vacate.

The purchaser, who was a private individual, was advised by FHP throughout.

FHP is pleased to announce the completion of the acquisition of the Barclay’s Bank premises at the above location.

Acting on behalf of a Private Pension Fund/Investor, FHP was able to negotiate a very satisfactory transaction following aborted negotiations with another party.

The property occupies an excellent location in the heart of Ashbourne which in more recent years has become a substantial tourist and antique centre.  Currently a considerable number of properties around the Market Place are occupied by various high class fashion users.

The property is let in its entirety to Barclay’s Bank for a term of 20 years from June 2007, expiring in 2027 and is subject to review in 2016, with a tenants break option in 2022.  The rent passing was £20,000 per annum, with an estimated rental value of £23,000 per annum.

The price agreed for the purchase was £325,000, which shows an initial yield of 5.82% and a reversionary yield of 6.7% net of costs. 

Noel Roper of FHP who negotiated the transaction commented:-

“We were particularly attracted to this property because Ashbourne is a well-established antique and fashion centre on the edge of the Derbyshire Dales.  Furthermore we were very confident that in the event of the bank either exercising their break clause in 2022 or not renewing their lease in 2027 that we would be able to re-let this property to a fashion user.  Recently the adjacent property known as, The Green Man Public House, at 8 – 10 St Johns Street, has been acquired by an owner occupier and is currently let as a high class ladies fashion retailer, Young Ideas.”

FHP represented the Private Pension Fund throughout.

For further information please contact Noel Roper – 0115 841113 / noel@fhp.co.uk

FHP Property Consultants are pleased to announce the completion of the sale of 12 – 14 Middlegate, Newark, Nottinghamshire.  Acting on behalf of Derry Properties we were able to secure a private purchaser for this well let investment in a relatively short marketing period.

The property was acquired by Derry Properties a little while ago and let to Newton and Derry Limited, an expanding estate agency, the guarantor was provided by Newton Fallowell Limited.

In recent years the tenant profile of Middlegate has considerably improved with lettings to Fat Face, Country Casuals, Phase 8 and Roman Originals to name a few. 

The property was let on a full repairing and insuring lease at a rent of £40,000 per annum expiring in December 2024 with reviews in 2014 and 2019 at a rent of £40,000 per annum.

The purchase price agreed was £425,000 which shows a yield of 8.98% after costs.  The purchaser is a well-known Newark business man.

Noel Roper and Steve Gillott, who acted on behalf of Derry Properties, commented:-

“We were delighted to be able to secure the sale of this well let investment after a relatively short period of marketing.  As mentioned above the profile of Middlegate in retailing terms has considerably enhanced in recent years and more importantly a further 2,500 houses are schedule to be built within the Newark area over the next few years thus expanding the catchment area for the retail centre of the town which this property will serve”.

END

Noel D. Roper                           

Derby and the Derby City Council put on a highly polished presentation to more than 100 potential Investors and professionals at MIPIM, the annual European Property Conference.

Confirming the progress and achievements of the past 12 months and their intentions for the forthcoming year they showcased the completion of their £24 million Council House redevelopment and the £30 million Velodrome and entertainment venue nearing completion on Pride Park.

Over the next 12 months there is ongoing emphasis on encouraging regeneration in Central Derby and initiatives being launched to encourage residential development of both new build and a desire to bring upper floors over retail units into use.

It was also confirmed that Contractors are on site undertaking initial enabling works to enable the new access road linking the A50 at Chellaston with the Rolls Royce campus which will open up Infinity Park, a 90 plus acre Business / Employment Park with an emphasis on the advanced engineering sectors.

This is exciting and progressive news which dovetails with our own experiences where we are seeing increased demand from many sectors including a noticeable increase in demand from the leisure sector with major names now looking to gain representation. Derby is definitely a City on the move and we can see a successful year ahead.

FHP acting on behalf of Foster-Gregory Limited have completed the sale of a long leasehold interest to Nottingham City Council, the freeholder.

A premium of £900,000 was paid by Nottingham City Council to acquire the long leasehold interest and merge the 2 interests.

Foster-Gregory held the property on a long lease expiring in 2070.   The ground rent was £22,537 per annum which is reviewable every 35 years.

Foster-Gregory through FHP in turn had under-let the warehouse and office premises to A-Plant on a lease for 15 years, with a break clause in June 2021, at a rent of £130,000 per annum.

FHP represented Foster-Gregory Limited throughout, whilst Nottingham City Council represented themselves.

FHP Property Consultants continue to be active in the investment market and as a result of their activities we now have a number of new investor clients whose requirements we are eager to fulfil. 

Below is a synopsis of the requirements, which is by no means exhausted:-

                                                         Investor A:          £400,000 / £450,000

                                                         Investor B:          Up to £2,500,000

                                                         Investor C:          Up to £650,000

                                                         Investor D:          £450,000 to £500,000

                                                         Investor E:          Trust Funds up to £3,000,000

The requirements of these investors do vary from straight investments to properties with a number of angles which applies to Investors B and C.

All sectors are considered; retail, offices, industrial/warehousing, possibly leisure.

Search area within a 50/60 mile radius of Nottingham.

If you have a particular property which you are considering selling then we would be happy to hear from you and to see if we can make you a proposal for an off market transaction.

For further information please contact Noel Roper at FHP.

END

FHP have been instructed by Tyrone Courtman and Nicholas Edwards, Joint Fixed Charge Receivers, to sell premises known as Birchwood Grange, Sutton in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire.

The property, a former private dwelling, has been converted to provide day care centre premises for mentally handicapped adults.  The site as a whole extends to approximately 26 acres and along with the day care centre accommodates a stable and menagerie along with approximately 20 acres of grazing land.

The day care centre which is let on a licence to Motivations Every Sensation Limited at an annual rent of £50,000 per annum, has been fitted to an extremely high specification to include swimming pool and sensory room.

The stable is currently let on a licence at £600 per calendar month.  The stable block provides accommodation for approximately 10 stables and benefits from a menagerie along with 20 acres of grazing land.

The buildings on site, in addition to the day care centre and stables, include stores, helicopter hanger as well as tennis court, large pond and heli pad.

Alastair Fearn of FHP who is handling the sale commented:-

“This is an interesting opportunity for investors in the care sector as we are of the opinion that there is scope to build on the existing facility, both metaphorically and physically subject to planning.  Alternatively, consideration will be given to selling the day care centre and stables/land separately.”

For further information please contact Alastair Fearn on 0115 8413913 or alastair@fhp.co.uk

Acting on behalf of Wilson Bowden Developments, FHP have agreed the sale of 4C Blenhiem.

This six year old, self contained warehouse of 25,437ft² is let to Falcon Panel Products at a rental of £146,250 per annum, the lease expiring in August 2018. 

The long leasehold interest in this property has been sold to private investors for the sum of £1,115,000 reflecting a net initial yield of some 12%.

John Proctor who handled the sale confirmed:

“The lack of finance available for short to midterm leases is still giving the private investor the opportunity to potentially consider purchasing properties at an attractive net initial yield.”

Acting on behalf of Blueprint, FHP Property Consultants and Innes England are pleased to announce the sale of a further industrial investment at Oaktree Business Park. 

The property is situated on the eastern side of Mansfield, not far from Angular Way, which connects with the M1 to the east.  Oaktree Business Park is located approximately 0.5 miles south east of Mansfield and joins access to Southwell Road West, which provides direct access not only to Mansfield Town Centre but also to the MARR. 

The property consists of a total of 7 units, 4 of which are single terrace units and the 3 remaining being self-contained free standing properties. 

At the time of the sale the property produced an income of £55,750 per annum.  1 unit was vacant and when that unit is let the property should produce an income of £64,250 per annum.  It should be noted that once units 1B and 1C were split into 2 units of 2,000 ft² they let fairly readily at a rent of £4.25 per ft². 

The sale price agreed was £570,000, which shows an initial yield of 9.24% and a reversionary yield of 10.64%.  The capital value is £38.50 per ft².

Nick Dawes of Brown and Company in Grantham, acted on behalf on behalf of the purchasers, a retained Lincolnshire based property and investment company.  This follows on from the successful acquisition of a number of other units from FHP’s considerable client base.

END

Private Clients advised by FHP’s Nottingham Office have recently acquired a two storey self contained office building on Phoenix Park, Nottingham in an off market transaction where Jones Lang advised the Vendors.

Whilst full details of the transaction have not been disclosed it is understood that the building which is occupied by E-on is let for a further five and a half years on fully repairing terms with the sale price purported to reflect a net initial yield of circa 13% per annum.

This compares with sales of similar office buildings undertaken in 2007 / 2008 prior to the Lehmen Brothers crash where similar transactions were structured at a yield reflecting an annual return of circa 7% per annum.

This radical shift starkly illustrates the problems facing the commercial property market but similarly presents an opportunity for the correct Purchaser hence it begs the question “is now the right time to invest?”

John Proctor of FHP advised the acquiring Investor and he summarised the Investor’s position quite clearly by saying:-

“Our Client is an experienced Property Investor who balanced the weakness of the current economic climate with the return provided by the building, the underlying capital value and prospects for economic recovery over the next five years.  Phoenix Office Park has seen higher vacancy rates than other out of town office locations in Nottingham as a consequence of the downturn in the economic climate and by virtue of the fact that the site was principally developed in the 1990s and early 2000s and by implication the natural lease cycles meant that lease ends have occurred over the past three years which have exaggerated the natural wastage that has been seen elsewhere in the market through rationalisation and downturn in financial fortunes.

Our Client was fortunate enough to be able to employ cash and therefore is immediately receiving a true return way in excess of alternative forms of investment – this level of return is however only guaranteed for 5.5 years and he recognises that at the end of that period of time the Tenant may vacate and that if it is relet it will relet at a lower rental than that which is currently passing.

His view, and this is substantiated by our own, is that ignoring any economic upturn our Client will be in a position, in such event that the Tenant vacates, to be able to offer the building into the market at a discounted rental and still receive a high return – the purchase price therefore underwrites the risk.

Alternatively our Client can sell the freehold interest and the erosion in values means that the base value on which he has purchased again gives the Purchaser comfort that he should still be capable of selling the property for at least the price at which the property was purchased in the first case”.

Both FHP and Matt Smith of Jones Lang’s Nottingham Office concur that the lack of available finance and nervousness of commercial property with shorter lease lengths means that there is unlikely to be a recovery in value within this sector for the foreseeable future and therefore the opportunities for cash rich Purchasers to purchase property at such a high rate of return will continue to exist.

Matt Smith who advised the Vendor commented:-

“Our Client had owned this building for nearly ten years and benefitted from a good solid commercial return provided by E-on’s tenancy so the property had looked after them well.

Whilst the purchase does reflect an attractive yield and one can see here why an Investor would purchase by virtue of the good location an Investor still needs to heed caution and fully understand the inherent risks.”

Both Agents have indicated that there is an increase from high net worth individuals and organised Investors to invest in property which can provide a high rate of return and a strength of income whilst the market remains challenged.

The questions that we are all asking remain unanswered and whilst none of us could have predicted the depth of the financial crisis and impact it would have had on the commercial property market at the outset one would fully hope and expect that one will see stability and gradual strengthening within the commercial property market over the next five years.

Acting on behalf of their retained clients, Hillary’s Residential, FHP Property Consultants are pleased to announce the completion of the acquisition of the first of two residential investments for the above company.

Over the last few years having established and built a substantial portfolio of commercial properties and financing a number of developments, Hillarys took the decision many months ago to diversify into residential investments to complement and broaden the spectrum of their portfolio.

Recent completions include the acquisition of 76 Hounds Gate.  This prominent Georgian building is located opposite the famous Robin Hood Statue and Nottingham Castle.  The property comprises accommodation arranged on basement, ground and two upper floors and consists of 3 contained flats accessed from Hounds Gate. 

The property is capable of producing an income of circa £21,500 per annum.  A number of works are required to the property in order to bring it up to present standards, however because of the location of the property there is a very substantial demand for tenants to have the benefit of such city centre apartments.

The purchase price agreed was £210,000 and after various works of renovation have been completed it will produce a return of circa 9% on the increased rentals which will be attributable to the property once the works of refurbishment have been completed.

At the same time, Hillary’s are also pleased to announce the acquisition of 30 – 32 Salisbury Street, Loughborough.  The property comprises a detached block of 6 apartments, together with 2 self-contained houses.

The property was purchased from the Receivers.  In arriving in an assessment of the capital value, one had to take into account the extensive works required to complete the property and also to comply with building and other statuary regulations.

Upon completion of the works of renovation the property should be producing an income of something in the region of circa £45,000 per annum, which will show the purchasers a gross return in the region of 9% after all capital expenditure. 

Noel Roper of FHP Property Consultants who acted on behalf of Hillary’s in both instances commented:-

“We are delighted that we have been able to broaden the spectrum of Hillary’s Properties portfolio.   We are particularly pleased that we have purchased these properties as they both proved extremely difficult and time consuming for a number of reasons.”

Currently a number of other projects are being considered with the view to creating a substantial portfolio of residential investments to be retained in the medium term for income purposes.

END

Noel D. Roper                              

Date:  27/03/2013

Tel: 0115 8411132

Email: noel@fhp.co.uk  

www.fhp.co.uk