An Allestree developer has placed its luxury serviced apartment business on the market for £12.5m.
Birchover Properties is selling Birchover House, which consists of 70 luxury apartments on sites at Kedleston Old Road and Church Lane North, in Derby. The apartments cater for corporate visitors to international companies based in the East Midlands.
Birchover Properties says the sale will allow it to concentrate on other development projects in Derbyshire. Director Rachel Walton said: "It has been extremely successful but we felt that with Derby being so busy with new developments, it was time for it to expand. We have decided to sell Birchover House because it needs a bigger operator to take it on and grow the business."
The project began in 1994, when 18 luxury apartments were built in Kedleston Old Road. Twelve more were added to the site in 1996. The scheme proved successful with business people who needed accommodation for extended stays in Derby - so 40 more apartments were built at Church Lane North, in Darley Abbey, in 1999.
Potential buyers of the serviced apartment business may come from the hotel sector. Alternatively, the serviced apartments will be sold to investors who will find their own operators to manage the business.
"It was a very special project for Derby," said Rachel. "It is the largest development of its kind in the UK and our product is as smart as anything in the sector."
Each apartment has a lounge, kitchen and dining area and en-suite facilities in the bedrooms. There is a telephone system with voicemail, satellite television, wireless broadband and a CCTV monitoring system. All the apartments at the Church Lane North site have private saunas.
The sale of Birchover House will be by share transfer and is being handled by the Nottingham branch of business agents Christie and Co. Sam Spencer, of Christie and Co, said: "Our clients had a specific plan from the inception of Birchover House and have continued to develop the business along the lines of their original model. The business benefits from a high level of good-quality, blue-chip clients who place consistent bookings. The company has built up a reputation for successfully serving the corporate sector and has established excellent relationships with the leading companies in the region."
Clients of Birchover House include Bombardier, Derbyshire Building Society, EDS, Egg, Rolls-Royce, Toyota and UPS.
The buildings are currently held on a lease, although Birchover Properties will offer the freehold of the sites available to potential operators or investors. Birchover House has a budgeted income for 2008-9 of £1.3m, with an operating profit of just under £1m.
Birchover Properties will now concentrate on high-value. new-build residential developments. Current projects include two schemes in Hazlewood, each worth over £1m.
Source: Derby Evening Telegraph
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