One of the region’s best known workspaces has been put up for sale after its current occupiers announced a move across the Tyne.
St George’s House was one of the first buildings to be completed on the Team Valley trading estate in Gateshead, with its crescent-shaped design incorporating a roundabout on the estate’s main Kingsway and Eastern Avenue roads.
The building, which was completed in the late 1930s, has housed a number of public organisations over the last 85 years and has most recently been the base for Homes England in the North East.
It has become vacant after Homes England’s decision to relocate to the Lumen building on the Newcastle Helix development. It has put up for sale with property agents Avison Young seeking offers around £2m for the virtual freehold in the building.
Avison Young director Tony Wordsworth, the appointed sole selling agent, said: “The building offers real flexibility and potential for either owner occupation or conversion to provide multi occupation in the form of a business centre or for other uses subject to planning permission.
“We anticipate a good level of interest in a rarely available property of this type on the prestigious Team Valley Trading Estate.”
The building is the former headquarters of the English Industrial Estates Corporation and was completed as one of the first parts of the Team Valley Estate Masterplan in the 1930s.
The estate was built as a reaction to the economic and employment problems of the time, but has grown in the decades since then and is now home to more than 700 companies employing around 20,000 people.
St George’s House extends to 31,000 sq ft and has a mix of open plan and cellulor office accommodation over three floors. It also has a car park with 113 spaces. A virtual freehold - with a 999-year lease - is being offered for sale in the site, with the main building being vacant and income available from leases in adjoining blocks.