One of Bristol city centre’s newest office buildings has been sold for the second time in just over two years – earning its owner a profit of nearly £3m and heralding a strong recovery in the city’s commercial property market.
The Paragon, on the corner of Victoria Street and Counterslip, was built during the depth of the recession in 2009 by Bristol developers Cubex Land. It was one of the last speculative office developments in the city.
Just over two years later Cubex sold the six-storey 75,373 sq ft building, by then 85% occupied, to Invesco Real Estate, the European specialist investment manager, for £26.5m.
At the time the deal was described as the most significant investment transaction in Bristol for a year.
Now Invesco has sold the building to Lothbury Property Trust, a property fund run by Lothbury Investment Management, for £29.45m – making Invesco an 11% return on its investment.
Tenants include law firm Thrings, accountants Ernst & Young and international HR and finance consultants Mercer. The building’s ground floor retail units facing onto Victoria Street are occupied by Bristol-based café chain Friska and Tesco Stores.
The Paragon's sale is the latest in a series of city centre and out-of-town commercial property investment deals in Bristol over the past six months.
Bristol property agent Hartnell Taylor Cook’s investment partner Ian Lambert, who acted for Invesco, said: “The Paragon occupies a fantastic location, and provides offices of the highest standard as demonstrated by the quality of tenants occupying the building.”
The deal is the third central Bristol office investment brokered by Hartnell Taylor Cook since December totalling over £38m.
The Paragon is also one of Bristol’s ‘greenest’ office buildings, having gained a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating. BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology) is a method of assessing the sustainability of a building.
The property is held on a long leasehold from Bristol City Council at a ground rent of £93,000 a year and produces a net income of £1.847m.
