Towers hits the market with £88m price tag

The Didsbury office complex comprises 289,000 sq ft across 10 buildings, and was last traded when Kennedy Wilson acquired it in 2016.

The US investor paid £82m for the South Manchester business park at that point, taking the asset from Lone Star.

Now JLL and CBRE have been instructed to find a buyer for Towers, which has consistently let well at an average of 94% occupancy, and has just secured a blue-chip arrival in the form of global business giant Siemens, which is taking around 40,000 sq ft in the Scotscroft building.

Executive director in capital markets at CBRE Will Kennon descried Towers as “a genuinely unique asset, which competes for demand with CBD assets as well as the wider Greater Manchester market, and provides attractive sustained income return”.

Over the decade of Kennedy Wilson’s ownership, Towers has seen strong rental growth, with rents increasing 58% since 2016, slightly outperforming Manchester city centre with an average increase of 4.3% per year.

More than 70% of floor areas at Towrs are now EPC A or B rated, with 52% now fully electric

Kennon added that growth prospects are excellent, with average rents at £25.79/sq ft, some 36% below the £34.70/sq ft level achieved in the Siemens deal.

The tenant line-up at Towers also includes names such as Honeywell, Spirit Medical, Syngenta and global comms outfit Cisco, one of several long-time residents, having been in place for more than 20 years.

Place understands that the vacancy rate currently stands at around 8% at the park, where the landlord has invested in tenant amenities in recent years.

Towers  Business Park sits behind Didsbury Cricket Club off the Wilmslow Road transport corridor, a short walk from East Didsbury railway station and easily accessible from the motorway network.