Trentham Estate on the market after 25 years

Specialist leisure and retail property adviser, Christie & Co, has been instructed to sell leisure-based outlet retail and garden centre – The Trentham Estate, on behalf of St. Modwen.

The decision to bring the hybrid investment opportunity to the market after over 25 years of ownership and investment follows a strategic review of St. Modwen’s core business.

Around 3.25m visitors, including over 760,000 paid for visitors, come to Trentham each year, placing the estate in the top five paid-for garden attractions in the UK.

Trentham features a Monkey Forest attraction, a Treetop Adventure high ropes course alongside a water sports centre – a multi-sports hub encompassing canoeing and rowing and home to Trentham Canoe and Trentham Boat Clubs.

The business is underpinned by a property investment business which incorporates 85 third-party leasehold occupiers, mostly located in the Outlook Shopping Village, as well as restaurants and a Blue Diamond Garden Centre, which is currently on a 35-year lease.

Complimenting the award-winning gardens which include a 65-acre lake with fully accessible walkways and extensive and natural landscapes, “Trentham Live” holds a year-round series of events which attract significant visitor numbers, ranging from tours, a series of summer concerts – which this year will include McFly, Steps and Craig David and charity events, as well as Trentham’s Christmas event.

With exceptional ESG credentials, Trentham offers biodiversity initiatives, with rare British breed livestock as well as otters, voles and beavers all introduced to the estate.

On a day-to-day basis, Trentham has highly experienced on-site management and operational teams which will transfer with the sale of the business, ensuring operational continuity for an incoming investor/purchaser.

Jon Patrick the head of leisure & development at Christie & Co who is overseeing the sale process said: “Trentham is a unique asset in that it combines a mix of very stable investment income, as well as revenue from the gardens and events, whilst delivering numerous opportunities for further development.

“Having one of the busiest garden centres in the country, a vacancy rate of only 2% in the Outlet Shopping Village and an easily accessible location with 7.5 million people living within an hours’ drive-time, mark Trentham out as one of the most exciting assignments we’ve worked on in recent years.

“We anticipate that the British public’s increasing interest in all things “outdoors” as well as investors’ focus on long income opportunities with further potential for development and exposure to operational real estate, will see interest in Trentham coming from a diverse buyer group”.

St. Modwen CEO Sarwjit Sambhi said: “Over recent years, St. Modwen has focused on the core areas of housebuilding and developing logistics property and last year confirmed plans to sell Trentham. We are now targeting an organisation or individual that can continue to invest in the business and act as custodian to support its ongoing success.”

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