Cheshire business park sold for millions
REGENERATION specialist St Modwen, has sold a business park in Cheshire for £3.5m, reflecting a net yield of 6.7%.
Heron Business Park in Widnes was bought by Northern Trust. The fully let estate, which was built by St Modwen in 2008, comprises 124,500sq ft across 30 units and accommodates a range of occupiers, including Wolseley UK, The Riverside Group and Fuller Fuel.
David Nuttall, development manager at St Modwen, said: “This is our first significant transaction of 2016 in the North West and builds on last year’s substantial range of acquisitions and sales.
“Heron Business Park perfectly encapsulates one of the core strands of our business model; to clean up and redevelop sites, disposing of them once we can add no further material value. In this way, we regenerated, let and ultimately sold this site, a former concrete batching plant.
“We will continue to focus on development and asset management opportunities, as well as actively looking for new opportunities in the region.”
Lambert Smith Hampton and Addleshaw Goddard represented St Modwen.
Ben Roberts, associate director in the capital markets team at LSH, said: “This sale demonstrates the strong investor appetite for well-located modern, multi-let industrial estates. There was a strong occupational story due to the lack of similar, well specified units within the surrounding area.”
St Modwen has recently started work at Stonebridge Business Park in Liverpool with a phase of speculative industrial accommodation, with a second phase due to start later in the year.
In addition, the regeneration specialist is implementing new asset management regimes at recent acquisitions including Kirkby Town Centre and Warth Industrial Estate, Bury.
