Crown Estate sells Altrincham Retail Park
Acting for St James’s Place Property Unit Trust, Orchard Street Investment Management has bought the park from the Crown Estate for £63m, reflecting a net initial yield of almost 7%.
The park comprises slightly less than 219,000 sq ft across 13 retail warehouse units and two standalone restaurants, along with 927 car parking spaces. At present, it is fully let with tenants including TK Maxx, Homebase and McDonald’s, drawing approximately 4m shoppers annually.
The asset has a weighted average unexpired lease term of 5.2 years and the total rental income is £4,700,000 each year.
Established by Act of Parliament, the Crown Estate is not able to borrow and as such needs to sell assets in order to raise capital for reinvestment across the business.
Tom Chadwick, associate partner at Orchard Street, said: “We’re pleased to make this yield-accretive acquisition which presents immediate asset management opportunities to improve the WAULT and benefits from the affluent Altrincham catchment.”
Geoff Ford, portfolio manager within the Crown Estate’s regional portfolio, said: “Altrincham Retail Park has performed well and helped us to build critical mass within the retail sector. As an actively traded portfolio, sales such as this one play an important role in helping to raise capital for reinvestment across the business, where we continue to deliver brilliant shopping and leisure destinations.”
Orchard Street was advised by Savills, while the Crown Estate was advised by Wilkinson Williams.
