Northern Quarter’s Dale House sold

Helical Bar has said that it is 'definitely looking to buy more in Manchester' following its acquisition of Dale House, a 42,000 sq ft office in Manchester, for £7.6m.

The deal represented a 6.4% yield. The seven-storey corner block in the Northern Quarter is multi-let to 12 tenants, at an average passing rent of £12/sq ft, and was sold by private individual Faris Mousa.

Dale House is Helical Bar's second purchase in Manchester in the last year, after the acquisition of the 250,000 sq ft Churchgate & Lee House in 2014 for £34m.

Will Parry, asset management executive, confirmed that the company was 'definitely looking to buy more in Manchester' although he said there was no set figure that Helical was looking to spend in the city.

"We love the city, and we're trying to be as active as possible," he said. "We're looking at city centre offices, and have also recently added to our industrial portfolio. The Northern Quarter is of interest, it has a Shoreditch feel with lots of interesting older buildings. However we review each asset on a case-by-case basis so are not targeting a particular type of building."

The sale of Dale House is the latest Northern Quarter block to attract investment from major London property companies, after Urban Splash's Smithfield building in Oldham Street was bought by Kames Capital last September.

The Dale House vendor was unrepresented. Adam Roberts of Zaman Roberts advised Helical Bar.

Roberts said: "We believe there is a real rental growth story in the Northern Quarter, as the expansion of the city centre is going that way. This purchase was secured in an off-market deal, which we are pleased with as we believe that if the asset had been brought to market it would have been keenly sought after."