A small industrial unit in Nottingham demonstrates how patience, creative problem-solving solving and portfolio awareness can transform an awkward remnant asset into a highly profitable disposal.
Swinstead Close is a light industrial estate in Nottingham that Maritime Capital once owned in its entirety.
Over time, units were sold until only one remained: Unit Seven, a modest building let to a vehicle repair and MOT business.
The tenant was unreliable, rent often late, and the relationship difficult. When the business went bust, Maritime was left with a single vacant unit in a location where it had no other holdings.
The obvious answer was disposal. The property generated little income, carried void costs and created a disproportionate management burden for minimal returns.
In isolation, it looked like a drag on the portfolio. But experience suggested another approach. A core belief guided the decision: you have to own property to benefit from the changes that happen around it.
Selling quickly might have cleared a management headache, but it would also have eliminated any chance of benefiting from future estate-wide activity.
The question was how to hold without wasting cash. The solution came from an existing relationship with a furniture recycling and removal company. They needed low-cost storage. Maritime offered Unit Seven on a rent-free basis if the tenant took on the business rates. They agreed to a six-year lease. The unit was occupied, presentable and covered its outgoings. Instead of a liability, it became a functioning part of an operating business.
And our patience proved justified.
Six years later, the Allsops auction team advised that the wider Swinstead Close estate had been sold to a fund planning comprehensive redevelopment. To execute their plans, they needed control of the whole site. That meant they needed Unit Seven.
The negotiating position had shifted dramatically, and what might once have sold for a modest price now represented the final piece of a much larger scheme. The fund paid a significant premium.
The property was sold in 2018 through Allsop for roughly three times what it would have achieved as a vacant unit.
The Swinstead Close story illustrates several of Maritime’s guiding principles. Every asset matters, no matter how small or awkward. Interim solutions that prevent capital drain can create breathing space for better outcomes.
Market intelligence and industry relationships provide the insight needed to act at the right moment.
And above all, patience is often the most valuable tool in property investment.
What started as an unloved, inconvenient remnant became a highly profitable disposal.
It shows that with the right mindset, no property in a portfolio needs to be written off as a lost cause.
