Abrdn is back in the market with One Tony Wilson Place, formerly Number One First Street, an 174,951-square-foot multilet Manchester office, seeking £52.5 million or an 8% yield.
JLL has been appointed to sell the building, which is let to Auto Trader, Jacobs and Ford's FCE Bank. Developed by Ask, the building comprises 25,500-square-foot floorplates, with Auto Trader the biggest tenant occupying 76,000 square feet across three floors.
JLL reports that Manchester city centre remains a tightly constrained major office market with new grade A vacancy rate of 4.2% and over 1.1 million square feet of named requirements.
The sale will be seen as a keen indicator of how values have moved in for prime regional offices as JLL reportedly brought it to market early last year for Abrdn seeking £73 million or a circa 5.75% net initial yield.
There is an average unexpired lease term of circa 3.4 years to expiry, and 2.4 years to tenant’s break options.
The current passing income is £4,485,619 a year reflecting an average rent of £25.64 per square foot, and a discount of 36% compared to the £40 per square foot achieved in nearby buildings.
1 First Street was renamed 1 Tony Wilson Place after after the Mancunian DJ, journalist and television presenter, who famously founded the Hacienda nightclub and co-founded Factory Records, home to acts including Joy Division, New Order and the Happy Mondays.