• Prominently positioned High Street freehold for sale
• Benefiting from Margate’s c. 4.6 million visitors per year
• Entire building currently let to British Heart Foundation at £35,000 pa on five year lease expiring 3rd July 2028 subject
• to a rolling mutual option to break at six months’ notice
• Planning permissions granted to reconfigure and extend the property to provide three ground floor retail units and
• 10 flats above, arranged on 1st to 3rd floors
• Total consented area 15, 674 sq ft
• Unconditional offers invited – price on application
LOCATION
Margate is a popular historic resort town located on the North Kent coast, situated 16 miles northeast of Canterbury, 22 miles north of Dover and 72 miles southeast of London.
The town has a strong retail presence with a mix of local established independent retailers and a number of major national multiples including Boots, Poundstretcher, Savers and Peacocks. The main retail focus of the town is centred around College Square Shopping Centre anchored by Morrisons with a multi-storey car park providing 500 spaces.
The property occupies a prominent position on the eastern side of the pedestrianised High Street, slightly north of the junction with Grosvenor Hill. Nearby occupiers include Boots, McDonald’s, Greggs, CEX, Subway and Your Move. Margate town centre’s primary parking provision, Mill Lane multi-storey car park is located to the rear of the property, which provides approximately 432 spaces. Both Margate Beach and Dreamland Amusement Park are located within 500 m of the property.
Margate benefits from excellent road communications, with Junction 9 of the M2 motorway being accessed via the A299 / Thanet Way, linking Margate to the surrounding towns in Thanet including Broadstairs and Ramsgate.
The town also benefits from excellent rail links. Margate Station is only a 10 minute walk from the property, with frequent services to London St Pancras and London Victoria, with approximate journey times between 1 hour 30 minutes and 2 hours.
DESCRIPTION
The property comprises a well configured retail store built in the 1970s, arranged on ground, first and part lower ground floors. The property benefits from extensive frontages to both the High Street and Herbert Place. It is constructed of a reinforced concrete frame with a full height glazed frontage surmounted by concrete panels with single glazed metal framed casement windows at first floor level beneath an asphalt surfaced
flat roof.
The property has rear access via Herbert Place which runs north off Mill Lane. Herbert Place also provides access to the Mill Lane Car Park to the rear of the property.
ACCOMMODATION
Gross Frontage 23.6 m 77 ft 6 ins
Internal Width 23 m 75 ft 3 ins
Shop and Built Depth 21.4 m 70 ft 3 ins
Ground Floor 429.29 sq m 4,621 sq ft
Lower Ground Floor 23.50 sq m 253 sq ft
First Floor 433.47 sq m 4,666 sq ft
Total 886.26 sq m 9,540 sq ft
TENANCY
The entire property is currently let to British Heart Foundation on a five year full repairing and insuring lease from the 4th July 2023, expiring 3rd July 2028 at a rental of £35,000 pa exclusive. The lease is subject to a rolling mutual option to break at any time after 4th July 2024, subject to not less than six months’ prior written notice.
British Heart Foundation (reg charity no. 225971 - is the largest funder of cardiovascular research in the UK and has the largest retail portfolio of all the UK charities with c. 730 stores. For the year ended 31st March 2024 the charity reported a total net income of £138.4 million with financial reserves of over £368.7 million.
PLANNING
The property benefits from two recently granted planning consents for extension and change of use of the upper parts to residential as follows:-
Change of use of first floor from Commercial (Class E) to Residential (Class C 3 to provide 4 units - 3 no. 2 bed flats and 1 no. 1 bed flat) together with shopfront alterations to create 3 separate units following two storey rear extension - F/TH/22/1668.
Two storey extension at existing roof level to provide 6 flats (6 x 2 bed duplexes) with access to Herbert Place via bridges at second floor level to stair core - PN13/TH/23/0004.
