Helmsley Group acquires 8,000 sq ft York city centre property
The property investment and development company has bought 70 Low Petergate from an institutional vendor ahead of a wider sale process.
The three-storey building comprises retail space on the ground floor, with the two upper floors in medical use. The upper floors have separate direct access from street level on Low Petergate.
The property produces a passing rent of £128,000 a year from two occupiers. Poundland occupies the ground floor and ancillary first-floor accommodation. Its lease expired in June 2024 and the retailer is currently holding over at a rent of £90,000 a year.
Helmsley has acquired the freehold for cash with no debt secured against the property.
The group plans to regear the leases on the upper floors and carry out works to the shopfront and external fabric during its ownership.
The acquisition is the third York city centre retail freehold bought by Helmsley over the past 12 months, as well as its ongoing work to revamp Coney Street.
The property is located close to York Minster and King’s Square, where nearby occupiers include Reiss, Oliver Bonas, Jo Malone, L’Occitane, Mint Velvet, and Jojo Maman Bébé.
Edward Harrowsmith, investment director at Helmsley Group, said: “Low Petergate is one of the strongest retail pitches in York and freeholds there rarely come forward. This one reached us off-market, ahead of a wider process, which is usually how the better York buildings come to us.
“The asset is under-rented and under-managed in its current state, and that is precisely why we bought it. We anticipate regearing the upper floors with Orthokind, and there is work to do to the shopfront and the external fabric. None of it is complicated. It simply needs doing.
“We have bought the freehold with cash and with no debt against the building. That is how our entire syndicated portfolio is held, and in the current market it matters.”
