Hurstwood expands Chester portfolio with office acquisition

The property investment and development company has purchased the property at 3-4 Hilliards Court at the “prestigious” Chester Business Park for an undisclosed sum.

Hurstwood Holdings has acquired the 8,200 sq ft office building from a private vendor for a price that reflects a net initial yield of around 14%.

Originally, the vendor was seeking offers of £1.05m for the property, according to a sales brochure. A purchase at this price would have reflected a net initial yield of 10.17% at £128 per sq ft.

The multi-let building features four self-contained suites ranging from 1,600 sq ft to 2,800 sq ft and has an annual income of £113,000.

Tenants include Howden Group Services, TBC Recruitment, and Eclipse Creative Construction, with one 1,800 sq ft suite currently unoccupied. Hurstwood plans to convert the remaining suite to provide flexible office solutions for local occupiers.

Located in Chester Business Park, occupiers neighbour a range of businesses including Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Lloyds Banking Group, and M&S Money.

Stephen Ashworth, chairman and chief executive of Hurstwood, said: “I have been keen to acquire properties on the prestigious Chester Business Park for some time so I am very pleased to have secured this purchase.

“Whilst we are currently operating in a very challenging market, Hurstwood continues to perform with several more deals already in the pipeline.”

King Street acted on behalf of Hurstwood. LHV provided the funding and Gateley was the legal advisor. BA Commercial represented the vendor.

The office building at 4 Hilliards Court was last sold to Lansdowne Investments for more than £1.4m in 2006, according to Land Registry documents.

Hurstwood’s acquisition of the property marks the latest addition to its £300m national portfolio. The company currently owns more than 150 sites, housing more than 1,000 occupier clients.