Tue Apr 30 2013
McConnell Chartered Surveyors has been re-appointed by the Lanyon Place Management Company to continue the management of all of the public open space at Lanyon Place, on Belfast's waterfront
Lanyon Place is the 14 acre flagship development site within the Laganside development area. Occupiers include the Waterfront Hall, Hilton Hotel and British Telecom Regional Headquarters building, Waterfront Plaza. The site includes multi-storey car parks and office blocks including Lanyon Plaza and The Soloist Building.
The Development is in a high quality landscaped setting along the River Lagan and the instruction involves the day to day management of cleaning, security and general maintenance of all of the external open space at Lanyon Place.
McConnells has provided management services to Lanyon Place Management Company since 2006, when they were awarded the contract formerly held by Irish Estates.
Thu Mar 7 2013
McConnell Chartered Surveyors, acting for the First Church of Christ, Scientist, has completed the sale of this iconic church property on University Avenue, South Belfast.
The purchaser is Iglesia Ni Cristo, one of the largest churches in the developing world which originated in the Philippine Islands.
Iglesia Ni Cristo translates from the Philippine language, Tagalog, as Church of Christ.
The important Grade B+ Listed church, together with Sunday school building and adjacent caretaker’s cottage, was brought to the market by McConnells in the summer of 2012 and attracted very considerable interest from a host of religious organisations.
The main church was designed by Clough Williams-Ellis, most famous for the creation of the village of Portmeirion in Gwynedd, Wales, and is a fine example of neo-Georgian architecture.
Mon Mar 4 2013
The results of the latest EGi Annual Deals Competition have just been announced in the leading property journal, Estates Gazette, and for the second year running McConnell Chartered Surveyors has done well.
The firm has secured the title as the most active Industrial Agent in Northern Ireland.
We also gained second place in both the Offices and Hotels & Leisure categories and were placed 4th in Retail.
Commenting on the announcement, Rory McConnell head of Agency at McConnells, said “The results of the EGi Annual Survey, which are based purely on the volume of transactions each agent conducted in 2012, confirm that we performed really well in all sectors of the market last year. This accolade is a credit to our Agency Team in particular, and confirms that the firm as a whole is now firmly established as a force to be reckoned with in the local market.”
Wed Jan 30 2013
McConnell Chartered Surveyors has advised private clients on the acquisition of The Warehouse, a six storey office investment situated on James Street South in Belfast city centre.
Well located within the Linen Quarter to the rear of Belfast City Hall, The Warehouse was brought to the market by Savills acting as Fixed Charge Receivers for Alburn Investments.
Shaun Wallace at McConnells introduced the investment to retained private clients and negotiated the acquisition. McConnells are retained by the purchasers in the continuing asset management.
Whilst details of the deal remain confidential, Shaun commented “The Warehouse was fully let to five separate tenants and, taking advantage of a relative quiet market, we succeeded in negotiating a purchase well below asking price to deliver a very healthy double digit yield”
Thu Jan 10 2013
McConnell Chartered Surveyors Agency team concluded a busy 2012 with a flurry of transactions, including a hat trick of deals to Legal Firms
Geo L Maclaine & Co which has operated from Lombard Street for almost 100 years, and has been in existence since 1822, moved around the corner to newly refurbished premises at Imperial Buildings on High Street – David Thompson at McConnells acted for the landlord
94 Ann Street (pictured) was sold by Andrew Agnew at McConnells in December to Bernard Campbell & Co who will move round from Victoria Street
To complete the hat trick, a new firm, Andrew Russell & Co, have taken offices on the first floor of Alpha House on Rosemary Street, in a deal again brokered by Andrew Agnew
In total McConnells were involved in some 130 commercial agency deals during 2012 – a creditable 16% increase on the previous year, and a testament to the hard work of the whole Agency team in a difficult market.
Fri Dec 7 2012
Acting for the landlord, McConnell Chartered Surveyors has completed a letting of the 2,075 sq ft 4th floor at The Warehouse on James
Street South to Instil Software, a local IT company specialising in bespoke software development and training.
Instil develops software solutions for mobile, desktop, web and the back-end, creating systems across a variety of domains.
The Warehouse is, as its name suggests, a period building which has been sympathetically refurbished to provide superb modern open plan office accommodation with exposed red brick walls, appealing to a new breed of young entrepreneurial firms.
Located just off Bedford Street, a stone’s throw from City Hall, The Warehouse is now fully let.
Thu Nov 1 2012
Acting on behalf outdoor clothing retailer, Trespass, McConnell Chartered Surveyors has just completed the leasehold acquisition of two more stores, this time at Boucher Shopping Park in Belfast and Rushmere Shopping at Craigavon, both of which will be opening in time for Christmas trading.
This brings to six the number of units we have negotiated for Trespass in the last twelve months - the others being at Donegall Place, Belfast (pictured); Richmond Centre, Derry; Bloomfield Centre, Bangor and at Erneside in Enniskillen.
Trespass, one of the very few major retailers on the expansion trail, are reporting strong sales accross Northern Ireland.
Rory McConnell, who handles the Trespass account at McConnells said "We have been taking advantage of a weak retail market to deliver some cracking deals for Trespass, and it's refreshing to be working with such an agressively expanding retailer".
Mon Oct 29 2012
McConnell Chartered Surveyors has been appointed by the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company in what is thought to be the biggest city centre retail property instruction of the year.
The 30,000 Sq Ft Hi-Park Centre on High Street was recently vacated by In-Shops and is being offered under lease either as a whole, or split into a number of smaller units.
Frazer Hood, Associate Director at McConnells who is handling the instruction, said " We are delighted to have been retained by the Transoprt Holding Company to market the Hi-Park Centre, which offers an opportunity to large space retailers, or perhaps leisure operators, to get a foothold in Belfast City Centre in a high profile location with good pedestrian footfall"
