Hortons makes £1m deal as Birmingham prepares to top dealmaker chart
Birmingham-based property agent, Hortons Estate, has purchased a three-storey building on Queen Street, Wolverhampton, in a deal worth over £1m. Hortons’ chief executive, Tony Green, also told Insider that the company is close to announcing another major property deal in the region. He said: “It’s not necessarily in Wolverhampton, but it is in the West Midlands – we’re a long way through the process.” The news comes as property agent King Sturge announces that Birmingham is on course to top the 2010 commercial property deal table.
Hortons acquired the 4,320 sq ft building on Queen Street from Signet, the UK’s largest speciality jeweller. Green described the property as “the missing piece” to the company’s Queen Street portfolio.
The building, which is let to Herbert Brown Jewellers, is situated on the corner of Dudley Street and Queen Street.
As Hortons prepares to expand its portfolio, King Sturge’s latest research shows that Birmingham is striding ahead in terms of property deals.
According to King Sturge’s latest report, July 2010 saw Birmingham move to the top of the 2010 deal table, after private equity investor Moorfield teamed up with one of the world’s largest real estate organisations, Hines Global REIT, to acquire five office buildings at Brindleyplace. The deal was worth about £195m - representing a net initial yield of 7.3 per cent.
The research also highlighted two earlier deals in the city; Aviva Investors’ purchase of Rutland House, from Seven Capital, for £27m, and the £29m acquisition of 2 St Philips Place by the investment arm of SEB Asset Management
The latter building is let to RBS until 2022 with a tenants break in March 2018.
King Sturge’s national research team analysed the city centre markets in Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester, and the largest second tier locations, Cardiff, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield.
Across the country, deal making activity was on the rise for the first half of the year.
Richard Goodall, the agents’ Birmingham-based head of investment, says the findings were even more positive than he had expected.
He said: “We were well aware that activity in the regional markets had risen significantly, but to see the investment total for prime regional office space up from £438m in the first-half of 2009, to £714m at the same stage this year, was something of a surprise.”
