Townhouse offers unique investment opportunity
Investors are being steered to a fully furnished student accommodation building near Plymouth University.
Mark Slade from Bruton Knowles’ Plymouth office is handling the investment in Harwell Street– formerly the landmark pub, The Townhouse.
He said: “This is a unique opportunity to acquire a fully fitted student accommodation scheme just five minutes’ walk from Plymouth University – now the fifth biggest in the UK.
“While there are several conversion schemes active in the city at the moment, Harwell Street has been designed and fitted to meet the requirements of the international student market – which commands the highest rental incomes.
“The Townhouse has 16 bed spaces deriving an annual income of £96,000. In addition the premises has planning consent for a six-room extension.”
The former pub – on the market at £950,000 for the freehold - was converted for the student accommodation sector in 2013 and was fully let to international students for this first trading period from January to August 2014 attracting very attractive rents.
“While some people aren’t happy to see old landmarks converted into student accommodation, an increasing number are recognising that Plymouth is a University City.”
“The rooms and the communal areas were fitted out to the requirements of Cleverstudentlets and Plymouth University International College, which is borne out by the quality of the fit out and the attention to safety features - a key aspect of the international student requirement.
“The communal areas are spacious comprising full kitchen facilities, leather sofas and communal TVs; a shelf of storage space and refrigerator/freezer space is provided for each student.
The décor for the kitchens is modern and eye catching and all the communal areas have red leather sofas and wall mounted TVs. All the rooms have en-suites.”
Mark Slade concluded: “Ten years ago this sector was known for students living in damp, poorly converted inner city villas with shared toilets.
“The mentality was ‘it’s only students’ but changes in perception means that traditional accommodation on the outskirts of the city have, to a large degree, become almost unlettable.
“Modern day student accommodation is a highly demanding sector and location, quality of accommodation and safety is as important as it is in the hotel sector.”
