The RO offloads seaside property to Savills for £6.7m

Deal done

Family-owned real estate trading and investment business the RO has announced the sale of its property in Lytham St Anne’s, near Blackpool to Savills Investment Management for £6.7m.

The deal brings its total of sales and acquisitions to more than £54m over a 12-month period.

The property in Lytham St Anne’s was originally acquired with two floors of tired offices above retail space.

The RO acquired planning permission add an extra floor to the building and convert the office space into a Travelodge Hotel, dramatically improving both the hotel and the retail premises below.

Overall the site has now been transformed into a thriving trading location in a popular costal town, with 90% of income secured to national covenants and AWULT of 15 years.

The sale is part of the RO’s ongoing strategy to reposition its property portfolio and to recycle the proceeds for re-investment into core income and value-adding opportunities predominantly in the South East of England.

The RO has a long heritage of investing in real estate assets. It has been an active and successful 12 months for the RO’s Real Estate division, which recently appointed David Kershaw from Balfour Beatty Group, as its new general manager and has now sold five sites for a total combined value in excess of £37m.

The group has also been acquiring properties and has made three new investments for a combined total in excess of £17m.

Over the next decade the RO has a prospective development programme with a gross development value in excess of £200m and the business owns or manages a million sq ft of commercial property across the UK, predominantly in the South East of England.

Nick Moore, senior investment manager for RO Real Estate said: “We are proud to see our hard work and investment on this asset pay off. The transformational work done at Lytham is testament to our asset and development management teams who have significantly increased value through their efforts. The sale followed a highly competitive bidding process, which demonstrated strong investor demand for long income assets. We look forward to recycling this capital”

CBRE advised the RO and Savills Investment Management were represented by Savills on the transaction.

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