Addington Capital, the property investment and asset management specialist has sold Aireside House, a 9,500 sq ft office block immediately behind the railway station on Aire Street in Leeds City Centre for £3.05 million. The purchaser is the Wesleyan Assurance Group, a financial services company. The building was fully occupied and the sale equates to a 6.66% net initial yield.

Addington acquired the building in a £42 million mixed-use portfolio with its joint venture partners and has since completely refurbished the building to offer a modern and creative office environment over four floors, with cycle storage and shower facilities added as part of the renovation.

Phil Symonds of Addington Capital said, “This is an excellent example of what Addington is best at – buying and re-working old, under-utilised buildings to develop a contemporary renovated office environment well suited to the local market in terms of location, floorplate size and, in particular, specification and finish. The Leeds office market has performed very well lately, with strong occupier demand across the size and specification ranges, alongside increasingly constrained supply.”

Agents on the deal were Cushman & Wakefield for Addington Capital and Lambert Smith Hampton for the Wesleyan Assurance Group.

Posted in News on 29th January, 2020

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Addington Capital, the property investment and asset management company has let 20,000 sq ft of office space at 10 Fleet Place, EC4 to serviced office provider Knotel on a new 10-year lease. The quoting rent is around £65 per sq ft.

10, Fleet Place was acquired in 2015 by its current Hong Kong-based owners Crosby Investment Holdings and Wing Tai Properties, for reportedly just over £175m, from Ares Management. Addington Capital is the asset manager for the property on behalf of the owner.

Martin Roberts, Principal of asset manager, Addington Capital said, “There is good demand for high quality office space in this western City location and we are delighted to welcome Knotel to the building. We will soon be releasing a further 13,000 sq ft of Cat A refurbished offices in March with a further 33,000 sq ft at the beginning of 2021. 10 Fleet Place is an iconic building in a great location so we are confident of achieving further success.”

Leasing agents were BH2 and Squarebrook. BNP Paribas advised Knotel.

Other tenants in the 185,000 sq ft building include news outlet CNBC and telecommunications firm Century Link.

Posted in News on 22nd January, 2020

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Addington Capital, the property investment and asset management specialist has received planning approval for a town house scheme of 16 houses on Melbourne Street and Lower Brunswick Street near Leeds City Centre.

The application comprised of twelve 2-bed, 2-bath townhouses (Melbourne) and four 3-bed, 2-bath townhouses (Brunswick), with parking and garden, all of which are freehold and will be available to buy. The site was previously an industrial building.

The plan is to get on site and build as soon as possible. Addington anticipates show home delivery in Q1 2020 and the scheme to be fully complete by end of June 2020.

The houses are expected to be attractive to Leeds young professionals or young families who want to live near Leeds City centre, which is only one mile away. Good shopping is less than half a mile away.

The houses are being launched with Help to Buy funding approved and three units have been reserved already. The houses range from £280 to £290,000 for the two bed Melbourne Houses and £350 to £360,000 for the 3-bed Brunswick houses

This area of Leeds has seen significant regeneration in recent years and is now known as the Northern Quarter in recognition of its increased popularity and vibrancy. The wider area has also seen a number of new shops, bars and restaurants.

Addington had originally secured planning permission to build a scheme for one hundred apartments, but following market research, decided to build freehold housing for sale instead. The company has other residential developments in the city, including at Headingley Park, where it has a 152-unit PRS scheme.

Roshan Ramlugun, Partner at Addington Capital said, “We are delighted to have gained planning permission for this scheme which we believe will help meet an ever-increasing demand in Leeds city centre, for both occupational and investment properties. Leeds has a vibrant young professional market looking for quality space as they move up the ladder. We believe they will find our scheme attractive.”

Leeds is the UK’s fastest growing city. The city centre is the main driver of a city region with a £64.6 billion economy and has a population of 758,000- with 27% of the population aged between 20 and 34. Over the next ten years, the economy is forecast to grow by 21% with financial and business services set to generate over half that growth over the decade.

Posted in News on 26th November, 2019

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Addington Capital has partnered with BauMont Real Estate Capital (BauMont) as BauMont completes its maiden investment in the U.K. , acquiring a residential portfolio from a private family office on behalf of BauMont Real Estate One SCSp (BREO). The portfolio includes 182 apartments of mostly converted Victorian and Edwardian houses in South London let on assured shorthold tenancies. The portfolio has been acquired for an undisclosed sum in the region of £37m.
The residential portfolio consists of 35 freehold buildings comprising 182 apartments. The majority are located in well-connected South London locations popular with commuters with a remainder mainly in prime North West London locations. Addington’s sister company AddLiving, the residential management and leasing business, will provide property management services.

Natalie Harrison, U.K. Investment Director at BauMont, said: “Given its characteristics, the portfolio will be resilient and offer well-located, good quality affordable homes in an undersupplied segment of the market. We are delighted to be working with Addington who are experienced in managing this type of portfolio and have an excellent track record.”

Matthew Allen, Principal of Addington Capital said: “We continually look for value-add opportunities in the sector and have recently been focused on the Greater London residential market, which has been subdued for many years but offers strong fundamentals. This portfolio offers opportunities through the refurbishment of the existing stock and new development. We are delighted to be working with the BauMont team.”

CBRE advised the vendor and Knight Frank advised the purchaser.

Posted in News on 20th September, 2019

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All 27 one- and two-bedroom residential apartments in Addington Capital’s newly re-developed apartment block at Headingley Park, Leeds are now under offer within 2 weeks of launch.

Launched and managed by ADDLiving, the specialist residential management and leasing company, this is the fourth block Addington Capital, has redeveloped on the Headingley Park site, which it first acquired in JV in August 2014. Stockdale House is now the only remaining office building on the estate. Park House, the fourth building takes the number of residential units ADDLiving manages at Headingley Park to 152.

Headingley Park is in a beautiful parkland location of about 5.5 acres which is easily accessible to Leeds city centre. It has been redeveloped to the highest quality and has attracted strong interest from Leeds’ growing young professional market.

Erdal Kacar, Head of Operations at ADDLiving said, “Leeds has an estimated population of around 780,000 which makes it one of the top four largest cities in the UK. It has a vibrant student and young professional population, but a shortage of suitable quality property to rent. We have been overwhelmed at the take up in the first two weeks of launch.”

The news bears out a report just produced by international law firm CMS “Urban Being – The Future of City Living” which surveyed 6,500 people living and working in either London, Manchester, Glasgow, Berlin, Amsterdam and Paris to uncover the preferences of consumers when it comes to their living environment. The report revealed that:

With 67% of respondents across all the cities either in debt or just breaking even each month, saving for a deposit has become more difficult than ever. As a result the report claims:

• 56% of respondents agreed that owning a property is becoming less important
• 69% believing that their government should encourage more homes being available for rent
• Superfast internet is the most important requirement in accommodation
• Energy conservation is a priority -with smart meters to control energy use and electric vehicle charging points as the two most popular requests
• 56% of milennials want to be able to keep pets in their homes

Kacar continued: “As people, the younger generation in particular, are placing more value on experiences rather than things, the rental sector will continue to boom. Customer service will become even more important. I am delighted we have met such demand at our Headingley site. And yes- we allow pets too!”

Headingley is one of three Yorkshire PRS schemes redeveloped/refurbished by Addington Capital and managed by ADDLiving. Addington acquired, refurbished and sold 183 units in joint venture at Waterside, Leeds and also has a large PRS scheme in Sheffield: Velocity Village of 371 apartments, which ADDLiving manages.

Posted in News on 16th September, 2019

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