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SandpiperCI has sold the iconic former home of CT Maine for nearly £1.6m to an investment company, just over two years after Jack Wills left the premises.
Since the preppy clothing store closed its doors in March 2020, the four-storey Victorian building on King Street has been occupied by jewellery shop and gallery Infiniti.
Documents in the public registry show that the transaction between the island's largest retailer and Cranham Investments Limited completed in the Royal Court last Friday (29 July). The total price was £1,550,000.
Cranham Investments Limited also recently bought 2, 4 and 6 Church Street. The transaction, which went through the Royal Court on 1 July, totalled £2.5m.
The documents relating to the latest transaction note the building includes 35 King Street, 2 Brook Street 18 Vine Street and comprises retail premises, apartments, offices and stores. The property is Grade II listed.
A spokesperson for Sandpiper CI confirmed the sale, explaining the retailer had not traded from the site “for some time”.
“When the opportunity to sell arose, they decided to dispose of the site,” the spokesperson added. “Sandpiper has no current plans to dispose of any other properties within its retail estate.”
The sale come just over two years since Sandpiper’s last franchise there, Jack Wills, closed down after nearly a decade in the location.
The 2,732sqft high street premises housing the British clothing brand had been listed on the CBRE website in November 2019, with ‘to let’ and ‘for sale’ signs appearing in its windows shortly after.
Pictured: Jack Wills left the premises two years ago.
Described as “an attractive Grade II Listed Victorian four-storey property of traditional construction under a pitched slate roof”, the building's rent was listed as £115,000 per annum excluding GST.
Sandpiper denied that the listing signalled plans to axe Jack Wills from its portfolio when asked by Express at the time.
They eventually “reluctantly” decided to close the store as a result of ongoing supply issues and the continued uncertainty for the overall future of the Jack Wills brand”, which was on the brink of administration at the time after posting an operating loss of £14.2m for the year to January 2018, but rescued in August by Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct in a buy-out worth £12.75m.
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