Investor adds two major Midlands retail parks to portfolio
Phases 2 and 3 of Merry Hill Retail Park in Brierley Hill and Phoenix Retail Park in Corby have been acquired by Columbia Threadneedle Real Estate, the investment and asset management arm of Columbia Threadneedle Investments.
The Merry Hill site offers 197,000 sq ft of retail warehousing and restaurant space on nearly 15 acres, with around 600 free parking spaces. Merry Hill delivers close to half a million sq ft of food, convenience and homeware retailing and sits adjacent to the 1.m sq ft Merry Hill Shopping Centre. It has an estimated spend of £600m per year.
Drone of Phoenix Retail Park in Corby
Current tenants include The Range, Currys, Wren Kitchens, DFS, and Pets at Home, occupying spaces from 1,900 to 52,000 sq ft.
Phoenix Retail Park in Corby provides 118,200 sq ft of retail warehouse space, anchored by M&S Foodhall, Matalan, The Range, Currys, Next, and The Food Warehouse.
Both deals are on behalf of separate client funds for undisclosed amounts.
Tom Elviss, fund manager at Columbia Threadneedle Real Estate said: “The acquisition of both Phases 2 and 3 at Merry Hill Retail Park from two separate vendors constitutes a majority holding at one of the UK’s dominant retail warehouse clusters in the West Midlands. This presents a significant opportunity to maximise the assets’ potential under single ownership.
“Phoenix Retail Park is set to benefit from Corby’s sizeable residential development pipeline, which brings with it a catchment growth proposition that will allow us to enhance the tenant mix further. At both locations, we intend to draw on our strong retailer relationships and scale in the retail warehouse market as we seek to proactively asset manage the holdings to deliver strong returns for our investors.”
For the Merry Hill transaction, Harvey Spack Field represented the buyer and Morgan Williams represented the sellers.
For the Phoenix Retail Park acquisition, Savills advised the buyer and Knight Frank represented the seller.
