A major sale worth nearly £2.7 million will see Halesowen College take over the east wing of the nearby Trinity Point office building, thanks to Birmingham commercial property agents Siddall Jones.
The seven-storey east wing of the 1970s office block, about half a mile from the current college, will now be refurbished to provide classrooms, studios, plus a student café and hub space.
In plans approved by Dudley Council earlier this year, works at Trinity Point will also result in new staff offices, along with student welfare and support facilities for digital and media students and staff.
Jacquie Carman, director of finance at Halesowen College, said: “We are delighted to acquire Trinity Point to create a centre of excellence for digital and media, providing an outstanding and inspirational environment for our students to flourish and succeed.”
Ed Siddall-Jones, managing director of Siddall Jones, explained that the property had been sold on a new 999-year lease at £2,695,000 deal, and would now enable the college to provide motivational learning facilities and address overcrowding at the Whittingham Campus.
Mr Siddall-Jones said: “We are thrilled to have been able to broker this sale after knowing for some time about Halesowen College’s need to expand their campus.
“This sale further underlines the transition in the secondary office market in the need to repurpose stock for alternative uses.
“We have been involved in a number of similar conversations from residential, student and storage uses and look forward to working with our clients in this ever changing and challenging market.”
Mr Siddall-Jones added: “Off the back of our acquisition of 60 Whitehall and our disposals of both the Alcora Building and Lygon Court we continue as the most active agent in the Halesowen market.”
Trinity Point stands on a prominent corner position with Halesowen town centre and the east wing will relieve overcrowding at the three existing Halesowen College sites: the main Whittingham Road Campus, Shenstone House on Dudley Road, Halesowen, and a unit on the Coombs Wood Business Park.
Siddall Jones acted on the deal on behalf of Trinity Point Developments, with solicitors from Knights acting for the vendor and Shakespeare Martineau advising the purchaser.