Buying a commercial property and dividing!

[MN2025]

Hi all -
I have a portfolio of residential properties that I started in the early 1990s.
Over the years, I’ve brought and sold off properties and reshaped the portfolio. I now have 5 residential BTL’s that I’m happy with and will only sell as and when tenants leave!

Anyway - I have been looking at auctions and there is a commercial property in my local town centre that has come up for sale. It was previously occupied by a retailer that has recently gone bust and they had traded there since 2001.

The size of the ground floor trading space is 11000 sqft. The premises were vacated in February 2026.
There are also 2 flats above which comes with the lot.

Flats are occupied and currently bring in a healthy yield - so I wouldn’t be looking to change this. I would however be looking to reconfigure the commercial property and divide into 2 retail units. Has anyone done this? Any advice or tips?

The entire building is up for sale for OIEO of £475k.
Rent for the two residential properties - £2300 per month.
They were refurbished in 2021 so no work required.

Retail units will approximately be 5500 square foot each.

The purchase of this as well as the refurbishment works will be funded by the funds from previous BTL sales. The money has been sat in an account for some time now.

yes - it’s a main high street in a tourist area although the unit is quite large in its current format to warrant a single retailer taking it on - I think if it was to be divided into two - it would give ample space for a retailer to have 4000 sqft trading space (even a little more) and then 1500 sqft storage/office/ancillary space.

And yes - I have someone who I have used for years who have done renovations on my buy to let properties as well as the main refurbishment on my home when I brought it last year. Very reliable.

5500ft2 still sounds quite large for a retail space - wouldn't it be better to divide it into smaller units so occupiers are more likely benefit from rate relief.

I wouldn't. Every High Street in towns near me, has more shops boarded up than open ones,and the open ones are vape shops, nail bars and barbers