Helical Bar buys former Savills office
The publicly listed property investor has expanded its commercial property portfolio in Manchester city centre with the acquisition of Fountain Court on Fountain Street from Brack Capital for an undisclosed sum.
The office was home to surveyor Savills until it moved over the road to Belvedere five years ago. The 26,000 sq ft office building has remained empty since.
Helical Bar plans to carry out a full refurbishment of the building and will start works immediately. The planned refurbishment will involve relocating the existing entrance from Fountain Street to Booth Street.
The completed scheme will bring to market 21,000 sq ft of office space and a 4,000 sq ft restaurant unit on ground floor.
Will Parry, asset management executive at Helical Bar, said: “This is a fantastic building in a great location. We are pleased to have increased our assets in Manchester and look forward to delivering a top quality office building. Given the active Manchester office market we believe we can create a product that will suit the demand.”
Fountain Court is Helical Bar’s third purchase in Manchester in the last two years, after the acquisitions of the 250,000 sq ft Churchgate & Lee House in 2014 and the 54,000 sq ft Dale House in 2015.
The refurbishment is due for completion in October 2016.
Helical Bar was unrepresented; Brack Capital was advised by Gary Scorah at Commercial Properties and Ereira Mendoza.