Manston are pleased to announce the acquisition of 5-9 Long St., Hoxton – comprising 6 exceptionally well appointed ground-floor office units in the dynamic area of Hoxton/Old Street, London. These units are let to a range of well established tenants, working across an exciting range of industries, and represent the first investment for Manston in the capital.

Manston’s Managing Director, Tom Boardman-Weston, said: “This is a very big strategic step for Manston – moving into the entirely new market of London. We have been down-weighting our office exposure over the past 5 or so years, having concerns about longer-term trends in the occupational and investment market for traditional offices, and were not expecting to alter this house view. However – when we discovered these 6 units for sale, having recently been entirely re-developed to an exceptionally high standard, we rapidly became convinced that they were very well positioned to benefit from a buoyant micro-location and fertile letting environment.

“Being closely positioned to the City of London, and given recent developments in return-to-work appetites amongst city workers, alongside providing a mix of traditional and serviced office provision – this is an ideal stepping stone outside of our traditional investment markets and into London. 5 of the units are EPC ‘A’ rated, with one ‘B’, they are exceptionally well equipped with break-out rooms, shower facilities and kitchens, have the benefit of secure car-parking & bicycle storage on site, and are well sited for local transport links. We feel that this high quality, well-located real-estate will be increasingly well positioned in the demand-heavy central London markets. Sadly, London would be a bit of a commute for the Manston team, or we may well move there ourselves!

“Given our recent focus on the industrial and leisure elements of our portfolio – this acquisition helps us to re-balance our sector weighting, whilst assisting in our longer-term goals of growing our portfolio capital & income in a sustainable, diversified and, above all, secure manner.

“This has been a complicated deal – containing many features new to Manston, and sincere thanks must go to all our professional advisors on this who have worked tirelessly to bring this deal to completion. I would also wish to extend my sincere thanks to the entire Manston team who have worked exceptionally hard, and diligently, throughout this acquisition.”

There is currently 1 vacant unit ready for let, on either a traditional or fully-serviced basis – and we would encourage any interested parties to get in touch for more information, which we will be available shortly!

Manston were advised on this transaction by Sam Peters, Simon Eddy and Jessie High of Fisher German commercial property consultants, Callum Kenny of Grovewest building surveyors, Rachael Briggs of Landsmiths solicitors, and Paul Richardson and his team at Handelsbanken, Nottingham Ropewalk.