Case study 3: The pick’n’mix
The Phoenix Club.
This one’s a beast. Phoenix Club in Ellesmere Port was my first major commercial conversion,10,000 square feet, an old working men’s club, and a lot of lessons learned the hard way.
It was exciting, complex, and at times I’ll admit, a little bit of ego crept in. I was in a phase where I wanted to build skylines. Big buildings, big outcomes. This case study is where I realised that sexy doesn’t always mean smart.
But hey, this deal still works like a machine. Here’s how.
Why Ellesport?
At the time, I was focused heavily on Ellesmere Port, a satellite town about 15 minutes north of Chester. It made sense:
Excellent infrastructure – M53, M56, M6 all nearby
Close to Liverpool & Manchester airports
Logistics corridor to Holyhead port and Europe
Big employers like Amazon and Vauxhall nearby
Low property prices but high rental demand
All of this made it ripe for high-yield commercial-to-resi deals, if you could buy well and plan smart.
How I Found the Deal
This building came through my builder’s network, a probate case. The owner had passed away, and the building had been stuck in legal limbo until my builder, who knew the family, got a handshake deal sorted.
He passed it to me. We bought it for £186,000—less than £19/sqft. Madness.
The Plan: Split, Convert, Lease
The property had a locally listed facade (not Grade II, so no listed building headaches), but that meant we couldn’t change the front much.
Here’s what we planned:
Ground Floor: Split into two retail units
First Floor: 13 flats
Loft: Planned for 7 more flats (spoiler: that didn’t happen)
The Mistake: Not Checking the Loft
One thing I’d change? We submitted planning before actually getting into the loft.
When we did finally get in, we discovered massive queen trusses—structural beams that would have needed full steel reinforcement to build through.
Given the low property values in the area, that level of construction just wasn’t commercially viable. So we scrapped the loft flats and focused on the 13 flats + 2 retail units.
Planning Success (and Setbacks)
It took about 9 months to get full planning. We got:
✅ 13 flats
✅ 2 retail units
❌ Lost the 7 loft flats due to structural issues
We moved ahead with the rest. Here’s the breakdown.
The Numbers: What It Cost & What It Made
Line Item Amount
Purchase Price £186,000
Build, Fees, PM, Finance £760,000
Total Money In £946,000
Flats Revaluation £760,000
Council Lease Income £5,800/month
Net Monthly Income
(after 6% IO mortgage) £3,800/month
I had a £2,500/month programme management fee for 18 months built into the project (which the lender was fine with). We used United Trust Bank for the dev finance.
We structured the exit in three parts:
13 Flats: Let to the local council on a 7-year FRI lease
Retail Unit 1: Leased, then sold to McColl’s for £250,000
Retail Unit 2: Later sold to a developer for £100,000
Savile Row Strategy in Action
If you’ve done my Savile Row strategy training in the Property Unicorn Club, you’ll know I’m big on shopping to order: finding end-users or tenants before you buy or build.
We did exactly that here.
➡️ We landed a 10-year lease with McColl’s at £25,000/year.
➡️ Before they even moved in, they asked to buy the unit.
➡️ We spent maybe £5k getting it lease-ready—partition wall, toilet, roller shutters.
➡️ They paid us £250,000.
Just let that sink in, we bought the whole building for £186,000, and one unit alone sold for £250,000, with minimal work.
That de-risked the entire project.
Retail Unit 2: Surprise Bonus
We were lining up an escape room tenant just before COVID hit. That fell through, and we sold the unit instead to a developer for £100,000. They went on to build six more flats.
So the two ground-floor retail units brought in £350,000 total, almost double the original building cost.
Why I Wouldn’t Build It All Out Again
This deal made money, no doubt. But it was hard graft. The flats were complex to build out, regulations were tough, and costs mounted fast.
In hindsight, I would’ve:
Got planning
Flipped the residential element to another developer
Kept the commercial leases or sold them separately
Why? Because I could have:
Got in and out quicker
Avoided a year and a half of project management
Used that time to do 2–3 smaller deals instead
Long-Term Income: The 13 Flat Lease
This was my first time leasing an entire residential block, and it was a game changer.
Lease: £5,800/month
Term: 7 years
Structure: FRI (Fully Repairing & Insuring)
Management: None
The leaseholder (who runs the council’s housing contract) pays insurance, maintenance, and handles tenants. We just get paid. Every month. No voids. No repairs. No rent arrears. Just cashflow.
We tied in a 3.02% five-year fixed rate mortgage, so our monthly finance cost is around £2,000. That gives us £3,800/month net income, or about £45,000/year—hands off.
My Biggest Takeaways
Commercial properties can be goldmines—if you know how to split them.
Planning adds massive value—even if you don’t build it out yourself.
Savile Row strategy works—get the tenant before you build.
Leasing entire blocks saves you time, stress, and cost.
Not every deal needs to be sexy. Stability beats stress.
Final Word
Would I do a deal like Phoenix Club again? Yes—but differently.
I’d carve it up, add value via planning, sell parts off early, and roll the gains forward. Because I’d rather do three tidy flips than one 18-month slog.
But it taught me a lot. And now? I’ve got a fully hands-off block, zero maintenance, and £45k/year dropping in on autopilot.
Want to Learn How to Structure Deals Like This?
In the Property Unicorn Club, I go deep on:
Planning uplift strategies
Finding commercial tenants
Savile Row sourcing
Structuring hands-free residential leases
Momentum investing at scale
👉 Join the Property Unicorn Club today and start building your unicorn portfolio.