Receivers want £2.3m for dock apartments

Sep 9 2008 by Alex Turner, Liverpool Daily Post

RECEIVERS have put Liverpool’s Princes Dock apartments up for sale as they seek to recover £30m.

Property consultants Allsop, which has managed the property for two months, since developer City Lofts placed the scheme with the administrators, is looking for offers in excess of £2.33m.

It is also managing the sale of more than 700 other residential units in Cardiff, Leeds, Newcastle, Salford and Nottinghamshire with a guide price of more than £27m.

Prospective buyers of the Princes Dock development will be bidding for the head leasehold of the 162-apartment development, which has two linked 20 and 10-storey residential towers.

The successful bidder will purchase 17 one and two-bedroom apartments and a ground floor commercial unit, which is 2,144 sq ft. Twelve apartments are let on short leases, with a total annual rental income of £105,200, while five apartments and the commercial unit are currently vacant.

The other 145 flats have been sold on residential leases. The owner of the head leasehold will take on the obligation to maintain the building and its communal areas.

The firm stressed that people occupying apartments, whether they have bought or are just renting, will be unaffected by the change in ownership.

Michael Gorman, of Allsop, said: “The Princes Dock sale is attracting interest from both national and local investors and we have already received a number of serious enquiries, highlighting that there is still keen buyer interest for correctly priced stock.”

The firm is inviting sealed bids by noon on September 26. In July, property developer City Lofts put the Princes Dock development into administration along with five other schemes in the UK.

Days later, the parent company City Lofts Group was also placed into administration as it became the latest property firm to be hit by the credit crunch.

However, the market has continued to struggle since then. Figures released by Halifax last week showed UK homes have lost nearly 13% of their value during the past year, and prices are now back to the levels seen in February, 2006.

alex.turner