The Botony Trading Estate comprised an industrial estate of 18 units, totalling 188,000 sq ft. The Estate was originally constructed in the early 1960s. A number of units were refurbished and or re-clad and re-configured.
The estate was sold when fully let.
At the time of purchase the Estate had been poorly managed and was subject to a number of vacant units. Average rents were approaching £4 per sqft and as a consequence of investment into the individual units rents were increased by over 30%.
The Estate was well located being the principle spine road to the Sainsbury Superstore.
Extensive discussions were held with Sainsbury to relocate them onto the Estate and to construct a new Superstore whilst creating a new covered shopping precinct on the site of the former store, linking to the High Street.
The Long Eaton Industrial Estate was constructed in the 1960s and comprised 9 units totalling 500,000 sq. ft. At the time of purchase the Estate was 50% vacant with remaining leases of a short term on a WALT of under 3 years. Tenants included Laura Ashley, Duresta Furniture and Dimensions Corporate Clothing.
As a consequence of establishing a close and trusting relationship with the dominant occupier Dimensions committed to the occupation of 375,000 sq ft on a 15 year lease term certain. This was achieved solely as a result of numerous meetings with senior management and understanding their company’s needs and requirements. This meant we could work together to accommodate their fazed occupation.
The asset comprised an Industrial Estate of 125,000 sq.ft. on a seven acre site on the edge of the City Centre and close to the mainline station. The Estate was located adjacent to Callaghan Square, Cardiff’s prime office location.
The Estate occupied by some 50 tenants and produced an income of circa £500,000 pax.
At the time of purchase we always believed the industrial use to be non-conforming as adjacent properties were occupied by residential and leisure uses.
Extensive discussions were held with Tesco to provide a relocation of one of their City Centre stores to provide 45,000 sqft of sales. Ultimately Tesco decided it was more cost effective to remain in their existing unit. We then progressed a Planning Consent for 400 private apartments, 175 affordable units and 100,000 sq ft of commercial space.
The investment was originally acquired as part of a larger portfolio at an allocated price of £5.5m. The site with planning was sold with the benefit of planning for £11.35m.
The property comprised a new purpose build Industrial Estate of nine units constructed in the early 2000s. Houndhill was developed as part of the wider Enterprise Zone and attracted some excellent occupiers to include Next Plc into 1m sq ft northern hub distribution centre, Virgin Call Centre, The South Yorkshire Police.
The estate totalled some 200,000 sq ft of accommodation and at the time of purchase only was largely un-let.
As part of the work out the remaining units were let and then sold once fully occupied. On sale the property went to three rounds of bidding to secure the buyer.
The Estate was acquired originally with a JV Banking Partner. The estate formed part of a portfolio owned in partnership with US investors as part of a Portfolio build up strategy.
The Estate totalled some 180,000 sq ft and was occupied by 40 tenants on a site of some 19 acres.
The Estate was developed in a number of stages from the early 1980s to the mid 1990s and afforded a range of unit sizes for starter units, larger warehousing, manufacturing and office accommodation. At the time of purchase average rents were in the order of £2.75 psf and over time as a consequence of estate improvement rents gradually rose to average £4.40 psf.
At the time of sale occupancy was at 95% and rental income had increased to £530,000 pax. The Estate was subsequently sold as part of a work-out on behalf of the Bank.
