Industrial estate sold in £11m deal

A commercial estate in Newcastle-under-Lyme has been snapped up for more than £11m.

Parkhouse Industrial Estate on Brookhouse Road was sold by BlackRock Industrial Trust.

Agents Harris Lamb initially acquired the estate in 2014 for £6.4m on behalf of BlackRock.

Comprising of 13 units, totalling 155,000 sq ft, Canmoor was appointed to asset manage the estate for the fund, and Harris Lamb was retained as letting agent for the site, which BlackRock went on to invest additional capital into, to improve the estate and drive value forward.

Andrew Groves, director, said: “As a result of the proactive asset management and investment by the landlord in the estate, we have successfully attracted several national occupiers to the business park; including Screwfix, Tool Station and DHL.

“We have also been able to renew and re-gear leases with existing occupiers such as FedEx, ATS an Arpa UK, all of whom have been willing to extend their commitment to the estate due to the improvements made.

“The annual rental income has increased significantly over this period of time and the quality of the tenant line up is at an all-time high, making it an attractive acquisition for potential buyers.”

Justin Marshall, of Harris Lamb’s investment team, said: ‘’We identified back in 2014 that this estate was crying out for fresh investment, it had been allowed to deteriorate for some years, the buildings looked, and as a result rents had stagnated, leases were often short, and the quality of tenants had begun to weaken.

“These factors made it an ideal asset for BlackRock’s new fund, targeting well-located estates in need of focused asset management and capital investment to push value forward. A business plan was set in motion, improving the quality of the space, attracting trade counter occupiers, increasing rents significantly, securing longer leases etc and generally breathing new life into the estate.

“We marketed the estate on a very limited and targeted basis with our knowledge of who in the market had the strongest appetite to acquire such an asset. Further to high levels of interest, InfraRed ultimately secured it at the highest end of our expectations, showing a Net Initial Yield of 6.26%.”