Sheffield office investment fills suite gap

2nd June 2015

Manchester developer MCR Property Group has started work on a £1.

25m refurbishment project to provide much needed small to medium sized office suites in Sheffield. MCR, which has invested and developed a diverse range of commercial and residential property throughout the UK, bought the 11-storey St James House in Sheffield's Cathedral Quarter earlier this year. After appointing the Sheffield office of Knight Frank and Fearnie Greaves to joint market the site, MCR has set about transforming the 57,000 sq ft building into prime suites with fully refurbished communal areas and reception, new windows and redecoration. The work has already attracted new tenants Green Eco Grants and PK Education, with interest from other occupiers looking to move in. Charles Denby, asset manager at MCR, said: "St James House was an attractive proposal given its prime city centre location, income profile and future potential, with a fantastic opportunity to add value. "Our strategy includes a complete refurbishment of the communal areas and office suites, replacement of the windows with modern efficient units plus improvements to the external ground floor elevation and approach to the building." MCR has already done business in Sheffield. Among transactions was the purchase and sale of 31 residential apartments and five offices at Union Forge on Mowbray Street to first time buyers and investors. The sale fully completed in March 2014. Charles added: "These deals signal our growing appetite to acquire high quality assets in the North of England as the commercial property sector shows signs of improvement." Rebecca Schofield, partner at Knight Frank said: "The new St James House suites certainly help fill the shortfall of good quality, smaller office stock in the city centre. There are very few sub 3,000 sq ft, broadband-ready suites suitable for businesses such as recruitment, IT and media companies wanting to 'plug and play'. "The refurbishment has already meant that we are relocating tenants within the building wanting to expand and attracted new tenants into the building." St James House, home to businesses including Teaching Personnel, IBM and Counter Context, is located between the Fargate shopping area and the professional office areas of Campo Lane and Paradise Square, alongside popular office developments including Fountain Precinct and The Balance. Suites are available from 734 sq ft upwards. For further details contact Rebecca Schofield at Knight Frank on 0114 272 9720 or Tim Bottrill at Fernie Greaves on 0114 244 9121.