London real estate investment firm disposes of Birmingham property for £25k

Palace Capital plc has disposed of its short leasehold interest at Priory House in Birmingham’s Digbeth for a nominal sum of £25k.

This is set to save the company around £170k per annum. Palace Capital has also acquired the leasehold interest of this 63,000 sq ft office building as part of the Sequel Portfolio acquisition in October 2013.

This should save Palace Capital paying £100 per annum in rent until December 2027. Priory House was let to Forensic Archive Ltd for the same lease term at a rental of £260k per annum exclusive increasing to £322k per annum in December 2016.

Neil Sinclair, Palace Capital’s chief executive, said: “This is a strong example of our team’s asset management skills.

“On May 7 2019, a sum was received from the tenant but the element was then to dispose of the leasehold interest in this vacant building which was costing the company approximately £170k largely in empty rates, insurance and security.

“Moreover, by removing 63,000 sq ft of non-core, vacant office space, our portfolio occupancy has increased from 84 per cent to 86 per cent, with the remainder mostly comprising tactical vacancies as we progress our value enhancing Capex strategy.”

Revealed this year (May 7), Palace Capital said that it had accepted the surrender of the lease held by Forensic for a payment of £2.85m.

Want your business, product or service to be seen regionally and nationally? Bdaily helps you get your story in front of the right audience, every day. Find out how Bdaily can help →

Join more than 55,000 subscribers by signing up to our daily bulletin each morning here.