Empiric Student Property has announced that it has acquired Pennine House, a 127 bed student accommodation property in Leeds, for £17.8 million (excluding costs). The property comprises a mix of studios and two-bed en-suite apartments across eight floors together with communal facilities including a gym, cinema room, study rooms and a common room. The property also includes a ground floor and basement commercial unit currently let to Living Ventures, trading as “Gusto”, one of fifteen Italian bar/restaurants in the UK, on a lease extending to 2041, with five yearly rent reviews, commencing in March 2021.
The company says that the property is located on Russell Street, between Leeds train station and the two main universities (the University of Leeds and Leeds Beckett University), both of which are within 10 minutes’ walk. Pennine House will continue to be managed by Collegiate, alongside the Group’s other Leeds assets, Algernon Firth and St Mark’s Court, both of which are already nearly fully let for the 2016/17 academic year. Pennine House was developed by the current management of Empiric (prior to the formation of the Company) on behalf of the vendor, British Airways Pension Trust Limited, in time for the 2013/14 academic year but Empiric say that neither it nor any of its management team has held any interest in, or been involved with the operation of, Pennine House for over twelve months.
Empiric say that, historically, the property has let well, although in the 2015/16 academic year lettings were impacted by the construction of a major new hotel next door. However, they say that construction of the hotel is scheduled to be completed in October 2016, with external works being completed this month. Reflecting this they say that Collegiate, and the Group’s operations team, are confident that lettings for the 2016/17 academic year will return to previous levels and, in any event, the Group will benefit from a structured rental guarantee from the vendor for the coming academic year. Following this acquisition, the Group owns, in aggregate, 323 beds in Leeds, all of which are operational.
Empiric Student Property acquires Pennine House, Leeds, for £17.8m : ESP