26 Deansgate, Bolton

The property comprised a vacant former Woolworth unit of 43,056 sq ft with basement and ground floor sales and first and ground floor storage. The building had been poorly maintained and there was a presence of asbestos throughout.

Marketing Analysis of Bids & Delivery

We appointed specialist retail agents and worked with them to approach several national multiple retailers, engineering competitive demand for the unit. This produced several proposals on differing bases of rent, capital contributions, rent-free period and Landlord’s works. We undertook an appraisal of these bids, taking all factors into consideration including covenant strength of each prospective Tenant, investment marketability and value. A recommendation was put then forward to the Bank.

We negotiated an Agreement to Lease and Lease to the Tenant, selected a Contractor for the Landlord’s works and negotiated a fixed price Building Contract.

Delivery

Handover to the Tenant was achieved below budget and three weeks early on a 14 week contract period. The project manager for Wilkinson, (a national retailer with over 300 units) was delighted and congratulated us on the best Landlord delivered the project the retailer had experienced.

In a short period we:

• transformed the asset into an asbestos-free building
• let it to a national multiple retailer on a 14-year FRI lease
• created a marketable investment (in the then difficult market)

The Lender supported and benefitted from the process, achieving a significant uplift in value after costs. Costs were de-risked and underwritten by the pre-letting.