Stamp Office typifies entrepreneurs' drive

Published on Monday 5 October 2009 19:08

DURING the downturn in the Scottish commercial property sector, the favoured description of the investment market was that it was a Mexican stand-off.

The big investors had the money to spend on major developments but the prospective sellers preferred to wait until prices came up so it was a stalemate.

Now both sides are starting to blink – the sale of Edinburgh's Hermiston Gait and Uberior House being two examples – but there has always been a second layer to the market, with entrepreneurs beavering away, buying and selling, spotting the opportunities and continuing to prosper – and they are now beginning to step up a gear or two.

A year ago the Stamp Office in Edinburgh came on the market after a 3 million refurbishment by its new owners, a private consortium led by property entrepreneur Mike Rutterford.

The 52,886sq ft building was right next to the 210,000sq ft Waverley Gate but was in no way dwarfed by the competition. Waverley Gate is still virtually empty, the owners out of business, but the Stamp Office is now full.

Rutterford is ready for more. He says: "Our success as a team means we are now actively looking for problem sites in prestigious locations which have failed to catch on.

"There are deals out there to be made as long as you can be flexible and act fast. It gives me no pleasure telling you this is not my first recession. However, we are confident looking ahead and I know there are opportunities out there and we'll be grabbing them with both hands."

Duddingston House Properties has completed the sale of a 2.5 acre site in Westfield Avenue, Edinburgh, to the Dunedin Canmore Housing Association for a mixed tenure affordable housing development of 205 units with 20,000sq ft of business workshop space and community facilities.

The deal for the former First Group garage site for around 20m was as a package, with the builder all lined up and ready to go. This will be the first project in Edinburgh to deliver 100 per cent affordable housing by a private developer.

Duddingston chief executive Bruce Hare said: "We have developed a formula for mixed use regeneration projects – now that we have the skills and know how to go about it we are keen to use it on more sites in Edinburgh.

"Although the residential market is clearly difficult, there is a huge demand in Edinburgh for more schemes similar to Westfield where we can use our skills to create value from the dip in land values."

The Edinburgh-based Chris Stewart Group – formed 12 years ago with the help of start-up finance from agent Eric Young and Mike Rutterford – specialises in buying property at between 1m and 2m for refurbishment, redevelopment or to work up planning consents.

Founder Chris Stewart knows a thing or two about the market – he sold 45m of assets before the downturn. He has a number of Edinburgh projects under way, many on hotels, and is looking for more.

He says: "We are not encumbered in any way with debt – we have cash available. There are pretty few of us about. We are looking for strategic options – it could be residential land in the city centre which needs planning, a portfolio of distressed overly-geared properties."

Two of the Edinburgh projects in which Stewart is involved are the proposed redevelopment of 1-5 Baxter's Place into a 166-bed hotel and a proposed mixed-use development at Logie Green Road, where the plan is to build a 300-bed student accommodation centre, 12,000sq ft of retail and 40,000sq ft of offices.

SCVO buys Merchant City building

CLYDESDALE Bank, advised by DTZ, has sold Brunswick House in Wilson Street, Glasgow, to the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO). The 25,620sq ft iconic Merchant City building will be used by SCVO as a voluntary sector centre, leasing space to charitable organisations (as it does in its Edinburgh and Inverness offices). The price was not disclosed but was believed to be in the region of 3 million.

GRETNA Gateway has marked its tenth anniversary by signing up six new tenants and announcing plans to increase its retail space by 15,000sq ft. Tenants moving in are Gap Outlet, Denby, fashion retailer Urban, Arran Aromatics, leatherwear specialists Lakeland Fine Leather and clothing store Double Two. In addition, Marks & Spencer has extended its outlet by 30 per cent. The headline rental is 25 a sq ft; the agents are CHD Property of London.

TWO more former Woolworths stores have been snapped up. The one in Alloa has been leased to Poundland, CWM Retail Property Advisers acting, for ten years at 40,000 a year. The landlord is a private client of Culverwell who, with SGM Property Consultants. acted for another private landlord as the Factory Shop took the former Woolworths store in Dingwall for 15 years at 40,000 a year.

WESTPOINT Homes has signed up the first tenant for its office development in Carmichael Place, Edinburgh – resources for life company Changeworks taking two suites totaling 2,140sq ft for its Edinburgh HQ. The headline rental is 15 a sq ft; the agents are D2 and CM Hall.

THE Aberdeen Harbour Board, represented by Shepherd, has let a 12,600sq ft refurbished workshop office and yard facility, in Sinclair Road at 80,000 a year to Hutton's Ship Chandlers.

BLUEPARROT Production & Events has taken a five-year lease on a 5,026sq ft storage unit at the Forth Industrial Estate, Granton, Edinburgh, at an annual rent of 18,500. King Sturge and Ryden acted for the landlord, Forth Ports Developments, and Clough Winter for Blueparrot.

THE Onyx Group has leased for five years a 31,701sq ft data centre facility at Bankhead Medway, Sighthill, Edinburgh. DTZ acted; rent details were withheld.

RYDEN, on behalf of Affinity Property Partners, has completed three more transactions at Northpoint, Hillington Park, Glasgow. Red Torpedo, Clydeside Surveys and a private investor took space. Six deals have been completed and the 85,000sq ft development, which was completed in January, is 22 per cent occupied.

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