Investor to shop around for more deals after buying retail park

Manchester property business Glenbrook Investments has bought a retail park in Accrington town centre for £2.83m.

It plans to buy similar sites in the next year, attracted by the “resilient” nature of the tenants and the potential for different uses.

The 4.9-acre site is home to Home Bargains, Pets at Home, The Food Warehouse and Poundstretcher. The deal for Eastgate Retail Park was £0.6m below the hoped-for price when the property was marketed a year ago.

Chris Lloyd, investment director at Glenbrook, said: “Despite the negative rhetoric around retail in general, retail warehousing has positive metrics and some very resilient tenants that have continued to trade well throughout lockdown.

“The locations of these parks have great connectivity and values are underwritten by alternative uses such as trade park industrial and last mile logistics. We hope and plan to acquire more assets of this nature over the next 12 months.”

Eastgate Retail Park has 35,400 sq ft of retail space and has previously had consent for a further 16,000 sq ft.

It generates £383,000 a year in rent, representing a net initial yield of 12.7%.

Robert Millington, partner at Cheetham & Mortimer, which advised Glenbrook, added: “Schemes of this size and nature have become increasingly dominant within the local shopping hierarchy and we expect this trend to continue.”