Sale of council's Hove office block could raise £13m

5:20pm Monday 11th June 2012 in News

A council headquarters which could be sold off to raise vital funds is valued at more than £13 million, The Argus can reveal.

But Kings House costs Brighton and Hove City Council more than £500,000 a year to keep it running.

The Argus understands that the council is considering selling the building as part of a property portfolio review.

The Grade II-listed block, which used to be the Seeboard head office, sits in one of the city’s prime locations.

One leading property expert, who asked not be identified, told The Argus that if the council were to develop it as residential flats it could make more than the £13.8 million estimate.

He said: “The penthouse apartments alone would be worth up to £1 million each.

“However, I don’t think that it could be turned into flats because it would go against the council’s planning policy.

“It’s more likely to be a sale and leaseback agreement where the council would sell the property but continue to use it by renting it off the new owner. It’s what a lot of the banks are doing.”

The latest valuation for the site, which was revealed by the local authority following a Freedom of Information request, stands at £13,860,893.

The response also revealed that the council paid £268,495 in maintenance last year and £304,290 in business rates.

Opposition groups welcomed the possible sale but said the proceeds must be put to good use.

Robert Németh, deputy chair of Brighton and Hove Conservatives, urged the council to act on what was a “very reasonable request”.

He added: “It is essential that the proceeds go towards something worthwhile – like a new sports centre for Hove.”

Warren Morgan, the deputy leader of the council’s Labour group, added: “It is more important than ever that the council looks at what buildings it owns, where they are and what they are worth, including Kings House.

“This could involve selling the sea-facing part with the council retaining the Second Avenue section. Any sale must deliver a significant profit that would be invested in frontline services.”

A council spokeswoman said that there were “no agreed plans” as yet, adding that the authority constantly reviews its property portfolio.

Comments(9)

Retired Loon in Brighton says...
6:13pm Mon 11 Jun 12

£13million - isn't that almost as much as they're handing over to a private developer as a loan for the i-360?
Imagine the piles of cash that particular vanity project will be generating on so many summer days in Brighton as this one.

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Morpheus says...
6:39pm Mon 11 Jun 12

It is interesting that the opposition groups want the sale of council houses to the occupiers, but they don't think it is right to own an office block. How do the economics favour ownership in one case and not the other? I don't think any of the councillors know the answer.

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Hove Actually says...
7:16pm Mon 11 Jun 12

Why does Brighton & Hove need THREE locations?
They could move all the admin into an industrial unit on the outskirts of town with smaller units offering a face to face service with a discount for online service use

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Enid jones says...
7:39pm Mon 11 Jun 12

Could everyone involved just stop and think before rushing to make a decision. This is a prime location and should not be used for offices especially council offices. Perhaps a hotel plus some flats would bring in ongoing revenue from a lease to a hotel and income from the residential development.

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Nick Brighton says...
9:03am Tue 12 Jun 12

This reminds me of the time I lived in Liverpool in the early 1980s. The Labour council, faced with straightened finances, mortgaged the Town Hall to raise cash to protect services. Two years later the money was spent, the services had to be cut and the council still had to repay the mortgage payments. Selling the Town Hall is not going to protect services for more than a year or so, after which we'll have to cut the services and have no assets left to sell.

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Crystal Ball says...
9:13am Tue 12 Jun 12

This is going to end in tears for many people.

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brightonyorkie says...
9:35am Tue 12 Jun 12

Enid jones wrote:
Could everyone involved just stop and think before rushing to make a decision. This is a prime location and should not be used for offices especially council offices. Perhaps a hotel plus some flats would bring in ongoing revenue from a lease to a hotel and income from the residential development.
Check your history. It did used to be a Hotel but failed many years ago. What makes you think it would work now?

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HJarrs says...
9:39am Tue 12 Jun 12

Selling Kings House is certainly worth considering, but lets not forget that only a few weeks ago this was against a background of generating building new offices, redevloping the King Alfred centre and so on. This is unrealistic.

The reality is that the sale of Kings House would not raise the sums of money first thought (tens of millions I seem to remember). What people forget is that anyone buying the site would pretty much have to start again and completely rebuild. The building is a liability for a developer.

I also note policy by Argus here. A couple of freedom of information requests do not make a policy. Lease back puts money in a council today and then we all pay through the nose for the next 20 years. I can feel an Argus campaign to lease Kings House coming on, followed in a couple of years time by constantly knocking the authority for doing so!

It is much as I thought, the sale of Kings House would pay for a modern, quality replacement elsewhere in the city, which is not a bad thing if the site becomes a good quality hotel generating business rates and employment and the new offices allow more efficient delivery of services.

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Lewesroadresident says...
12:49pm Tue 12 Jun 12

This is really weird- this is the 3rd or 4th time this paper has had an article about this in recent weeks, even though there is no story here! The Council keep stating that the property portfolio is constantly reviewed. I don't think a local paper should be trying to dictate policy in this way. The Council owns lots of land and buildings which are rented out- if it was all sold, we'd have loads of money but no assets. Report on actual news please, and not fictional scenarios.

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