Orchard Street acquires Christchurch Retail Park for £35m

Orchard Street Investment Management (‘Orchard Street’), the specialist commercial property investment manager, announces it has unconditionally exchanged on the acquisition of Christchurch Retail Park, Dorset, from LondonMetric Property Plc for £34.5 million. The acquisition, which has been made on behalf of St James’s Place Property Unit Trust and represents a yield of 5.65%, is due to complete by 31 March 2017.

The largest retail park in Christchurch, a coastal town approximately five miles from Bournemouth on England’s south coast, the asset is 100% let with a WAULT of 7 years and comprises approximately 104,000 sq ft of modern space across nine units. There are 404 customer car parking spaces at the park, which is anchored by Homebase and where other tenants include Pets at Home, Halfords and Costa Coffee. The total rental income delivered by the asset is £2,084,000 per year, reflecting an average rent of £20 per sq ft.

Christchurch Retail Park is situated on the A35 bypass road, 0.5 miles west of Christchurch railway station and has a catchment area of more than 300,000 people within a 20 minute drive.

Tom Chadwick, Associate Partner at Orchard Street, commented:

“Christchurch Retail Park is a high quality retail park which will be a strong addition to the portfolio.  We look forward to executing the asset management strategy to drive the income return and extend the WAULT on this prime asset.”