THE new owner of Liverpool’s landmark West Tower is marketing its apartments for sale after refurbishing parts of the building.
The 40-floor tower was built by developer Beetham, but was put up for sale after its holding company went into administration.
London firm Delph Property bought the skyscraper on October – and says it now wants to attract more owner-occupiers to give the building a “more lived-in feel”.
It has already sold eight apartments since December, and has written to tenants offering them the chance to buy their homes, but is launching a wider marketing push this weekend.
The two-bedroom apartments will range in price from £130,000 to £170,000. Richard Forman, from Delph, says they are priced “very realistically” in a tough market.
Delph has also refurbished communal areas of the building, and has refurbished flats as tenants have moved on.
Mr Forman said: “It’s a fantastic building. There’s not much we need to change. The building speaks for itself.
“We’re delighted with it. It’s the most iconic residential building in Liverpool. The views are great.”
He added: “The market since 2008 has been very difficult, especially for city centre flats. But I think we’re well-placed here.”
Beetham had originally hoped to sell most of the flats in the development, but its plans were hit hard by the housing market collapse.
It was also unable to sell 60 of the 123 apartments in the skyscraper because the building overhung a small piece of public highway, meaning the Land Registry would not register sales.
But the dispute was resolved when administrators Grant Thornton paid Liverpool City Council £500,000 for the land.
The tower was put up for sale last April with an asking price of just £12.5m – just 40% of what it was worth when it was built. Asked how much Delph paid, Forman said only: “We paid a fair price”.
Delph was founded in the 1960s by the Crocker family, which still owns the business.
It has a portfolio of more than 1,000 properties, largely in London and the South East but stretching as far as Cardiff, Bristol and Nottingham.
