I met a man the other day who has just bought six apartments in Beetham Tower, the one he had been renting for the past year on the 41st floor and five more as an investment.
The deal will have cost him around £1.5m and the rents will give him a yield of around 5% but he could have got more elsewhere. Lend Lease were guaranteeing 7% to investors at the Green Quarter earlier this year,or he could have bought six apartments and a penthouse on Bloom Street for the same money.
But he was never going to do that as he believes Beetham is the best building in the city and the apartments on sale are “cheap as chips.”
But then he is from London. He did used to do something in the city and he has just sold a flat in Kensington for 10 times the values of property up here.
So it’s all relative I suppose.
The units he bought, all two beds and all facing north, are part of a portfolio of 54 that came to the market a couple of months ago.
They were apparently held by the developer when the building completed in 2006 and have been, indeed most still are, rented out since.
The Beetham Organisation has had its troubles since then and the apartments are now being sold through Braemar Estates, the company that manages the building.
Grant Furber is putting together the deals. He said: “All the apartments sold off plan but for various reasons these never completed and were held onto and rented out.
“The portfolio is now being brought to the market for valuations which we feel will generate interest and will sell.
“We have written to all 39 tenants affected advising them of the intention of the landlord but their tenancy will not be affected and they are being given the opportunity to buy if they wish.”
Your entry level here is a one bed on the 32nd floor facing south which is on at £157,500.
Shepherd Gilmour currently have a south facing one bed on the 33rd floor for £159,000 but re-sale prices vary up to £180,000.
The two bed/two bath average around £250,000 or if you have lots of dosh there’s a two bedroom penthouse that runs the depth of the tower for £699,000.
Sadly this is tenanted so you don’t get to have a look if you go along just for a general nosey.
What you do get to see is one of the standard two beds that has been refurbished with the wooden floor getting a makeover, bathrooms steam cleaned and the kitchen overhauled. This included some major treatment of the stained concrete kitchen worktop involving a hessian bag and some vim according to the son of DE Gregson and Son of Liverpool who called in during an open evening to see his handiwork.
They will presumably do the same for any of the other units, but presumably also for a fee.
And it has scrubbed up very well indeed which was a bit of a surprise, because when I went to the original launch with TV interiors stylist Sian Astley we both agreed the specification was a bit basic and I had expected it to be distinctly shabby by now. But it’s not, and the common parts of the building are well maintained too.
For my money the north is the right side of the building. The south side gets you an internal terrace and the west the sunset but to be honest the cityscape is always going to be the star here and I’d rather look at iconic Manchester buildings than Hulme Asda.
It’s never been hard to buy in Beetham, there have been units available since the day it was completed and there are another 17 or so currently on the market with other agents including Phil Neville’s vast triplex which has been reduced to £3.75m.
But the prices vary wildly and it will be interesting to see what effect this sudden influx of units has on values.
If you have never been inside Beetham then this is your chance. Even if you are not really looking to buy go and look at the show unit, it’s decked out very nicely, and just admire the view.
More info: Braemar Estates - www.braemar-estates.com
