Following this week's news that the government is to cut the business rates exemption for empty small business properties, Richard Wackett, head of rating at Lambert Smith Hampton, says “this is a big blow for developers and investors of all ... Read more
Helical Bar today announced it has exchanged contracts to buy Newmarket Shopping Centre in Suffolk from the administrators for £17.75m, representing an initial yield of around 8%. Tenants include Marks and Spencer, Peacocks, and Argos. Allsops and CB ... Read more
Communities Minister Bob Neill yesterday announced a drastic reduction in the empty rates relief for small properties, saying that it would cost the government an estimated £400m per year to continue with the exemption. Vacant properties with a ... Read more
Another indicator in the papers today of the buoyant market for office space in the City of London, with the Telegraph reporting that financial services group Friends Provident is about to take 50,000 sq ft of office space at One New Change, the new ... Read more
Land Securities has announced the start of work on its site at 123 Victoria Street in London SW1 after planning consent was granted last week by Westminster City Council. The 227,000 sq ft office and retail building from the 1970s will be completely ... Read more
The CB Richard Ellis monthly index for November shows that there were large variations between commercial property markets last month, with four of the firm’s seven subsectors in decline while the overall market continued to see positive capital ... Read more
Derwent Holdings has secured permission from council planners for its £200m redevelopment of the Edge Lane retail park in Liverpool, but the project may still go to a public enquiry, reports the Liverpool Daily Post. The company had gained approval ... Read more
Great Portland Estates today confirmed it has bought the eight-storey building at 20 St James’s Street, SW1 for £42.5m from IVG UK Limited. The 55,490 sq ft building was redeveloped in the mid-1980s, the company noted, and is now let to nine tenants ... Read more
There are press reports of two large deals on office space in the City of London today. The Telegraph reports that private equity firm Carlyle is to put landmark City building Alban Gate on the market, only months after buying it with some other ... Read more
Another large property transaction today following a loan default – this time in Leeds, where West Riding House, a landmark offices and retail building, is understood by Property Week to have been put under offer by Moorfield for £48m. The tower, ... Read more
