Artisan sells Oxford Road bar block
CBRE’s specialist markets team has completed the sale of Artisan Property Group’s New Wakefield Street mixed-use scheme next to Oxford Road station in Manchester to Birmingham-based Barbers Property Co for £2.9m, at a yield of 6.1%.
The 26,250 sq ft leisure and residential investment is anchored by Black Dog Ballroom and the Font bar and has seven fully let apartments, providing an income of £190,000 a year. The property offers a number of development opportunities to convert the three floors of vacant office accommodation into additional apartments. The property is next to Student Castle’s 32-storey student residential tower. CBRE started marketing the property at a guide price of £2.75m in January 2015.
Nick Huddleston, senior surveyor at CBRE Manchester, said: “Interest was strong, with a number of very competitive bids in excess of the guide price. Investors are increasingly looking at leisure investments in the North West particularly when these provide wider asset management and development opportunities.”
Moya Ball, managing director of Artisan Property Group and sister of the late Carol Ainscow, founder of Artisan, added: “This disposal will allow us to focus more strategically on our estate and concentrate on new development and investment opportunities within Manchester, Liverpool and the wider North West. Artisan Property Group is very much open for business.”
