Leeds-based property investment company Rushbond has added a significant heritage property to its portfolio, as it has completed the purchase of the Grade I listed Leeds Corn Exchange, one of the most loved buildings in the City.
The acquisition follows Rushbond’s recent announcement on the Leeds’ First White Cloth Hall in Kirkgate, just a short distance from the Corn Exchange. Working alongside Leeds City Council, City Fusion and other interest groups, Rushbond plans to redevelop the First White Cloth Hall as part of the wider renaissance of the Kirkgate area.
Mark Finch, real estate director at Rushbond commented, “We feel incredibly privileged that we’ve been able to add the stunning Leeds Corn Exchange to our portfolio. It is a magnificent building that is home to a wide variety of independent shops and businesses. Alongside Kirkgate Market, Leeds Corn Exchange has played a hugely prominent part in the history of Leeds, and its role in the renaissance of this part of the City will be pivotal. There are exciting and transformational times ahead for this historic area of the City.”
Rushbond is an investor in property in Leeds and Yorkshire and has been so since its formation. Since 1986, Rushbond has invested in many of the County’s great heritage buildings, including most recently through the redevelopment of Crispin Lofts in Leeds’s Northern Quarter and St. Leonard’s Place in York.
Leeds Corn Exchange was built by renowned Leeds architect Cuthbert Brodrick in 1863, and is one of only three remaining Corn Exchanges still functioning as a centre for trade in Britain. The Grade I listed building sits at the top of Call Lane, and acts as one of two heritage ‘book-ends’ of Boar Lane, along with the magnificent Majestic building, which is another Rushbond property and for which planning permission was secured for its planned development at the end of last year.
Since the Corn Exchange re-opened to the public in 2008, the centre is now home to a variety of independent businesses, with some 30 shops, cafés and salons operating under its iconic domed roof.
Savills, the current property management agents, have been retained and will continue to take charge of the building’s day-to-day operations. CBRE acted on the transition.
