SWIP buys Sunlight House
SWIP's £2.5bn Property Trust has added the Sunlight House office building in Quay Street, central Manchester to its growing portfolio.
Sunlight House was purchased by the SWIP Property Trust team from Aviva Investors for £34.5m, representing an initial yield of 6.3%.
The 214,000 sq ft multi-let office is occupied by TravelJigsaw, advertising agency BJL and Handelsbanken among others.
Kerri Hunter, deputy fund manager of SWIPPT, said: "We really like this property as it's a striking building, in a great location, with large open plan flexible floorplates. Not only is it on the doorstep of Spinningfields, there are a number of developments and refurbishments planned for the street so the immediate location is set to improve further in the short term. With average rents in the low teens, we believe the building is currently punching well below its weight and, particularly given the tight supply of good quality space, has great income growth potential."
The SWIP Property Trust team undertook a significant amount of activity last year to reshape the portfolio by selling out of small, secondary assets and investing into larger, better quality assets and this purchase formed part of that strategy. It continues to seek properties with strong fundamentals offering income growth.
Griffiths Eccles and CMS Cameron McKenna acted for SWIP and Joiner Cummings acted for Aviva.
