Abrdn disposes of 58,000 sq ft Manchester office 

Urbana Partners has made its first Manchester acquisition, buying 17 Quay Street for an undisclosed sum. 

The asset is a vacant 58,000 sq ft office block on the edge of Manchester’s Spinningfields district, previously occupied by Direct Line. 

Direct Line opted to cut its Manchester footprint last year and relocated to around 7,000 sq ft at Bruntwood’s Bloc. 

The acquisition is Urbana’s fourth in the UK in the last 12 months and follows buys in Birmingham, Sunderland and Stockton totalling 253,000 sq ft. 

Established in 2021, Urbana counts Lambert Smith Hampton’s former head of capital markets Nick Lloyd among its founding partners. 

A trio of Argentine investors, Mariano Weil, Federico Weil and Federico Wilensky are listed alongside Lloyd as partners. 

“We are delighted to have completed the acquisition of 17 Quay Street,” Lloyd said. “The building benefits from a prime location and a configuration that will enable us to pursue a high quality, ESG conscious refurbishment orientated towards the increasing post-Covid occupational demand.” 

This is Urbana Partners fourth UK acquisition in the past 12 months, and we will continue to target stable income and end of life office repositioning opportunities throughout the UK”. 

OBI acted for Urbana. 

Scott Gemmell, part of OBI’s transactions and asset management team, said: “We are pleased to have secured this quality ‘value add’ office investment opportunity for Urbana Partners. The asset offers clear asset management initiatives while taking advantage of the strong fundamentals that the Manchester office market has to offer.” 

Savills acted for Abrdn, which is also looking to offload the 136,000 sq ft No 5 St Paul’s Square in Liverpool, as revealed by Place North West.