Selling an office building is difficult enough, let alone when it hasn’t been built while interest rates and construction costs are rising.
Those were the challenges James Porteous, director – capital markets at JLL - faced when he advised on the sale of 9A First Street in Manchester.
It was just as well that JLL had also been involved in finding a tenant for the 130,000 square feet of office space, advising the Government Property Agency as it signed a 25-year lease, which won it Lease of the Year award, too. This supported a good deal at a very low yield of 2.9% as yields were starting to move out in response to the higher interest rates, earning the Sale of the Year Impact Award. The scheme was bought by the Pension Insurance Corporation.
The project: Sale of a Manchester office development at a very low yield of 2.9% against the backdrop of rising interest and construction costs.
What the judges said: Steve Carrick, the owner of Carrick RE, said, “A top of the market transaction. The net initial yield of 2.9% is amazing given where yields have headed since the Summer of 2022. For the buyer they have a 'best in class' asset (ESG market-leading in Manchester) backed by a 25-year lease to a covenant tenant.”
They made it happen: James Porteous, director capital markets at JLL, John Hughes, managing director at Ask Real Estate, James Agar, head of long income at Pension Insurance Corporation and Clive Anderson, director of Capital Projects at the Government Property Agency.
