Bradbury Park, Braintree and Belleknowes Industrial Estate, Fife

Following on from the first acquisition of Quarry Wood, Aylesford in July 2020, the year ended on a high note with the acquisition of two additional properties for the programme: Bradbury Park, Essex and Belleknowes Industrial Estate, Fife. 

Bradbury Park, a newly constructed and recently completed estate located in Braintree, Essex, developed by Equation Properties and Sheikh Holdings, comprising 193,000 sq ft GIA across eleven units and providing a range of unit sizes between 7,300 sq ft and 62,700 sq ft, was acquired for £28.0m.  The asset was acquired with 57% vacancy, presenting an opportunity to attract a range of local, regional and national occupiers to a popular location, at competitive rents in comparison to London.  The transaction represents an NIY of 5.65%.

PATRIZIA and their operating partner, Caisson Investment Management, were advised by LSH and Simmons & Simmons.  Avison Young represented the vendor.

Belleknowes Industrial Estate, located in Inverkeithing, Scotland (15 minutes from Edinburgh airport) is a 140,000 sq ft estate, acquired for £10.5m.  The estate comprises 22 units of varying sizes ranging from 3,400 – 17,400 sq ft and provides trade, warehousing and light industrial accommodation.  The estate has a strong occupier base, including Network Rail, Bella & Duke and Speedy Hire.  It benefits from low passing rents coupled with good accessibility to Edinburgh and its airport.  Being in an area of restricted supply, leasing the four vacant units should result in rental growth and full occupancy in the short-term.

PATRIZIA and Caisson were advised by Galbraith and Morton Fraser.  Lismore Real Estate Advisors and Shepherd & Wedderburn represented the vendor.

Jamie Younger, Head of Transactions UK & Ireland at PATRIZIA, commented: “We are pleased to be continuing our collaboration with Caisson with these two latest assets.  Industrial real estate has withstood the headwinds from Covid-19, due to rising demand in e-commerce and last mile delivery.  We remain upbeat about this sector, as rent collection rates over the last few months have remained stable and we have further funds allocated to invest.”

James Burgess, Acquisitions Manager at Caisson Investment Management, commented: “We are once again delighted with the latest acquisitions in the PATRIZIA / Caisson programme.  These two estates are excellent additions to the portfolio and increase diversity across location, lot size and income profile.  We continue to search for MLI opportunities in this resilient asset class and are well positioned for another successful year in 2021.”

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