Proposed £90m sale of the world famous Royal Liver Building on Liverpool waterfront is now ‘on hold’. Tony McDonough reports
Owners of the Royal Liver Building in Liverpool have taken it off the market after failing to secure the £90m asking price.
In March Corestate, which owns a 35% stake in the Royal Liver Building, instructed CBRE to find a buyer for the property in March. Everton FC majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri owns a 49.9% stake in the building and the remaining 15.1% by international investors.
However, on Friday afternoon Place North West reported that none of the bidders for the asset were prepared to pay the £90m price tag.
A spokesperson for CBRE told Place North West the process was now “on hold”. They added: “The owners are forging forward with the active asset management of the property and delivering on the next phase of The Royal Liver Building’s world-class occupier environment.”
The next stage of this upgrade work will see suites of between 500 sq ft and 9,000 sq ft created in the west atrium.
CBRE senior director Neil Kirkham added: “The success of the east atria offices has illustrated the pent-up demand in the market for very high-quality offices, with market-leading amenities and facilities and we hope to build on that.”
Once the tallest office building in Europe, the Grade I-listed building was completed in July 1911. It was opened as the purpose-built headquarters of the fast-growing Royal Liver Assurance society, which had been set up in 1850.
In 2011, the Royal Liver Group was taken over by Royal London Group in a deal that also included ownership of the Royal Liver Building. By that point, Royal Liver staff occupied only part of the site with other floors let out to multiple business tenants.
In 2016 Royal London put the building up for sale with a price tag of £40m. In February 2017 Luxembourg-based investor Corestate Capital acquired the building for £48m. It was later revealed that its joint partner in the deal was Mr Moshiri,
During the five years of their ownership that building has undergone a significant refurbishment of the office and common areas.
It now also has its own visitor attraction centre – RLB 360 Tower Tour – which allows the public to explore its iconic history through a fully immersive experience.