Hexham asset up for grabs following 79th Group’s downfall
Administrator Quantuma has tasked specialist agency Landwood with finding a buyer for a former workhouse turned hospital administration building.
The former Fairnington Centre is a site on Corbridge Road in the Northumberland town, with existing buildings taking up around 11,600 sq ft of the 1.68-acre site.
A consent is in place for a conversion and extension scheme involving 34 homes, made up of 32 apartments – 25 two-bedroom and seven three-beds – and two townhouses.
The consent dates from 2019, and as far as Landwood can intuit, was implemented insofar as some elements being demolished.
According to the particulars, the workhouse was originally constructed in the late 1830s, and after its closure was used as an administration building for Hexham General Hospital. However, now vacant for a number of years, the asset is described as dilapidated and in need of full renovation.
The asking price for the asset is £800,000.
Four people are still on bail as part of City of London Police fraud probe, after a group of businesses linked to developer and asset manager Seventy Ninth Group were placed into administration in April this year.
The company denies any wrongdoing.
Landwood has been asked to sell off three of the asset manager’s properties. One, an Art Deco-fronted former cinema in Birkenhead, already has a buyer lined up. The third asset is an office block in Warrington.
James Ashworth, partner and head of agency at Landwood Group, said: “These three very different properties all have their own unique characteristics and their own USPs.
“While we have already found a buyer for the Wirral site, we are confident that each of them will find buyers who will be able to take them forward, develop as appropriate and bring them back into occupation.
“We are specialists in this field and we offer a coordinated approach offering the administrators the expertise of our Recovery, Valuation and Agency teams. We hope to secure the best prices we can in the current market and all three properties should generate plenty of interest.”
The consent from 2019 – for a scheme described as both The Old Workhouse and Dene Park Gardens – can be viewed on Northumberland County Council’s planning portal, reference 19/01380/FUL.
The project was designed by Gosforth firm Acanthus Darbyshire Architects for HMC Land.
