Hill Dickinson, leading UK law firm with offices in the North West and London, has advised Liverpool based property company GMD Investments Limited, a subsidiary of the Downing Group, on the acquisition of New Hall Place, Old Hall Street.
The deal was successfully completed before the Chancellor announced the Budget, which swept away the various reliefs which had been utilised in a complex stamp duty land tax saving scheme – saving Downing £2million in stamp duty.
New Hall Place, known locally as the ‘Sandcastle’, boasts 390, 000 sq ft of grade A office space and is the national headquarters of Royal & SunAlliance, (R&SA). Downing purchased the premises from R&SA, whose 2,000 employees will remain in approximately two thirds of the building. The remaining 100,000 sq ft will be let out to new tenants.
Andrew Williams, commercial property partner at Hill Dickinson, led the team which acted for Downing which included Graham Archibald (property partner), Ian Vicary (corporate partner), Mike Jones (corporate partner), David Oram (construction partner) and Chris McDonough (corporate associate).
The acquisition means that Downing, already a major force in the
property sector across the Midlands, North and North West of
England, confirms its position as Liverpool’s largest private
commercial landlord, with a portfolio of eight city centre
properties. Hill Dickinson’s leading commercial property practice,
one of the largest in the North West following the successful
merger with property specialists Bullivant Jones in 2004, continues
to attract big ticket transactions acting for high profile
clients.
On completing the milestone acquisition, Andrew Williams says:
“This represents our first substantial commercial instruction from
the Downing Group and we are delighted to have acted on their
behalf in such a significant deal for the North West. The
transaction was completed under a considerable amount of pressure
in the race to beat the Budget, but we succeeded with hours to
spare, saving our client a substantial sum of money. This
acquisition forms part of the wider regeneration and development of
Liverpool city centre and we are thrilled to continue to play such
a key role in the city’s transformation.”
