£11m Telereal sale price beats the crunch

By Stewart McIntosh

DESPITE the current poor state of the market, you can sometimes get more than you asked for.

GVA Grimley has achieved 10 per cent more than the asking price for 3.73 acres at Lancefield Quay in Glasgow. The former BT technical site, which is bounded by Elliot Street to the west and Lancefield Street to the east, was marketed at offers over £10 million.

CompropScotland understands that the Northern Ireland developer McAleer & Rushe paid marginally over £11 million.

Keith Aitken of GVA Grimley, who sold the site on behalf of Telereal, BT’s property arm,declined to confirm the selling price. He said: “We marketed the site in the middle of 2007, before the crunch started to bite. I think we sold

it in the nick of time - you’d be hard-pushed to get a strong price now.”

The site has outline consent for residential, offices and ground-floor retail. Graham Mitchell, development manager at McAleer & Rushe, said: “We are delighted to have secured this strategically important and very prominent site. We are currently engaging with our design team to alter and enhance the existing site proposals and look forward to moving forward with this exciting project.”

A detailed planning application is due to be lodged within the next few months. Given the poor market conditions for waterfront housing in the city, a request for a reduction in the residential element seems likely, to be replaced by new proposals for increased office accommodation and, possibly, hotel use.

Commenting on the market in general, Aitken said: “Things are definitely getting tougher. Investors are finding it very difficult to get debt funding on acceptable terms.

"Even when funds are available, many buyers are holding back. I was speaking with clients a few days ago who are in a vacuum. They’ve got the cash, but they won’t buy anything until prices fall further.”