Watling Real Estate has sold a former mill building and ancillary accommodation in Morley in West Yorkshire for an undisclosed amount.
Andrew Foster and Nathan Pask, joint managing directors of Watling Real Estate, were appointed receivers over the property earlier this year.
West House on Commercial Street, Morley, is a substantial three storey, former mill building with ancillary rear warehousing on a 0.24 acre site.
James Bunce, a surveyor in the Leeds office of Watling Real Estate, said: “The origins of the mill are shrouded in history, but more recently it has been used as a gym, whilst its side arm housed a pub and nightclub. It had latterly fallen into a derelict state.”
It was sold freehold with vacant possession in its existing condition to a private investor and developer.
The property comes with current planning permission for conversion of the existing mill and rear warehouse in to a specialised supported living scheme, intended to provide 12 self-contained, one bedroom apartments, ancillary staff accommodation and rear car parking.
Full planning permission was also granted in May 2014 for 7 one bedroom apartments, 4 two bedroom apartments and 10 parking spaces.
Mr Bunce added: “It is our understanding that the purchaser intends to bring forward fresh plans for the property, broadly in line with existing plans, to build it out as a residential redevelopment.
“There was strong interest in the property in the end, culminating in robust competitive tension between competing interested parties.
“We believe this is a great result considering the more general pressures being felt by the construction industry at present.
“That said, Morley is an up-and-coming suburb and commuter town of Leeds given its good rail and road connections. The property is also centrally located, just off Morley’s main thoroughfare.”
“This development could offer some really desirable accommodation, and obviously it’s always nice to see a West Yorkshire mill being brought back in to use as they are an absolute staple of the area’s landscape.”
Watling Real Estate was created on 1 June 2023 by a management buyout, supported by Bassi Capital, of the real estate restructuring division of Avison Young. The business is headquartered in London with a network of offices in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Bristol.
