Property investor offloads shopping centre for £9.3m
Leicester-based property investor Custodian REIT has sold the only high street shopping centre in its portfolio for £9.3m.
The listed firm told the London Stock Exchange it will use the proceeds from the sale of Gosforth Shopping Centre in Newcastle to fund its ongoing pipeline of building refurbishments.
The company bought the 73,367 sq ft shopping centre as part of its acquisition of DRUM Income Plus REIT in November 2021.
It has generated £900,000 of rental income over the period of ownership.
Richard Shepherd-Cross, managing director of the company’s external fund manager Custodian Capital, said: “Shopping centres as a sector have not performed well since the COVID-19 pandemic and do not fit comfortably within our investment objectives of selecting high quality, well located regional properties in areas where future rental growth is underpinned by strong supply/demand fundamentals.
“The asset management work completed since acquisition and the accretive terms of the DRUM Income Plus REIT plc purchase have allowed us to achieve a profitable sale despite current market uncertainty. This disposal provides additional capital for our programme of improving assets we feel will better capture tenant demand over the long term as well as enhancing their environmental credentials.”
