- Client
- Open University
- Sector
- Commercial
- Location
- Boars Hill, Oxford
- How we helped
- Commercial property and asset management Education
Three career highlights:
Over a career spanning nearly 30 years involving all forms of property from a nuclear bunker through to the vast majority of the County’s main business schemes, it is difficult to choose just three highlights; the following are certainly are worthy of note:
Letting acquisition, for SkyCaddie, at Haddenham:
I have chosen this as we were presented with a challenging brief by our client but I was able to use my market knowledge to unearth an off market opportunity that we subsequently acquired on very favourable terms.
Sale of Foxcombe Hall, Oxford: It is not often you get to market a University Campus and, as such, our disposal of the former Open University Campus at Boars Hill has been a highlight, working alongside our residential team on this high profile instruction.
Letting Instruction, Silverstone Park: I am currently leading this letting instruction on behalf of MEPC, where we have been responsible for over 200,000 sq ft of lettings in the past 12 months and I enjoy helping guide the park’s future development form, alongside the wider team.
Acting on behalf of the Open University, Carter Jonas were instructed to dispose of the university's freehold interest in a property.
The property comprised of an original manor house with two extensions and two outbuildings within a site of approximately 15 acres. The property extended to approximately 38,750 sqft of built space, sitting within landscaped gardens and woodlands and was located in the highly sought after area of Boars Hill.
The property itself presented a number of challenges for the team. Due to its size, location, and current use as commercial unit there were a number of potential end uses, including as a residential property. As a result, the Carter Jonas Commercial and Residential Agency Teams worked together in order to secure a purchaser.
With an extensive marketing campaign targeting all manner of occupiers, the interest Carter Jonas received was significant and very successfully managed.
The marketing campaign ran for approximately 6 weeks in total and resulted in an informal tender process, with two rounds of bidding and the end purchaser being an educational establishment by the name of The Peking University.
Carter Jonas’s main role was to advise on freehold disposal options and secure a purchaser with the ability to proceed and derive the best price for the Open University.