Kentish Express Ashford & District
Folkestone council to buy office block
A six-storey office block in Ashford is set to be bought by Folkestone and Hythe District Council (FHDC) for £17m.
Authority bosses rubber-stamped proposals to purchase the Connect 38 office block from developers Quinn Estates and George Wilson Holdings Ltd last week.
One of Ashford Borough Council (ABC)’s Big 8 projects, located near Ashford International station, the 80,500 sq ft of space at Dover Place is the largest office block to be built in Kent for 20 years.
ABC sold the land it was built on to Ashford Commercial Quarter Limited, directed by Mark Quinn and George Wilson, for “£2 plus overage”.
FHDC council leader David Monk says his authority’s purchase of the site is now “all systems go”.
“We want to get moving as quickly as possible now we’ve voted for the purchase,” he said.
“We’re only interested in buying this building for now, it’s a good financial opportunity, but that’s not to say we won’t look at other investment opportunities in the future.”
Cllr Monk voiced hopes the building will yield between 5-7% income a year, opening a fresh revenue stream for the cashstrapped council.
Completed last summer, Connect 38, which was given its name for being 38 minutes from London on the high-speed line, will eventually be part of what will become a 600,000 sq ft office and retail campus dubbed the Commercial Quarter.
Ashford Independent councillor Winston Michael says he is disappointed to see the building go, saying: “This is one of the council’s Big 8 projects designed to help rejuvenate the district why has it been sold to another council?”
To enable the first phase of development at the Commercial Quarter, ABC underwrote the cost of two floors of the office block. An ABC spokesman said the authority sold the land to Ashford Commercial Quarter Limited, directed by Mark Quinn and George Wilson, for “£2 plus overage.”