Lettings on retail units in Hull agreed

Three vacant units at a Hull retail park have been let to two new tenants, totalling 18,868 sq ft of space.

Listed firm Ediston Property Investment this morning said it had successfully completed the lettings at Kingston Retail Park in Hull.  It has completed the lettings of units 5a, 5b and 5c which extend to a total of 18,868 sq. ft.

Iceland Foods has signed a ten-year lease, without break, on units 5b and 5c which have a total area of 13,672 sq ft.  Iceland will trade the store as a ‘Food Warehouse’.  Sue Ryder has signed a ten-year lease with a five-year tenant break option on unit 5a, which extends to 5,196 sq ft.  If Sue Ryder were to exercise its break clause, it would be required to pay the company a penalty equivalent to six-months rent.  Both tenants have been granted a short rent-free period of three months. This follows on from the letting to B&M last year, which increased its representation on the park from 10,271 sq ft to 24,225 sq ft.

The retail park was acquired in December 2017.  Units 5a, 5b and 5c were vacant, but benefited from a rental guarantee from the previous owner, which was due to expire in December 2019.  The company has paid for the reconfiguration of the units to facilitate the lettings and has made a capital contribution to the tenants.  Allowing for an offset from the guarantee account, the net capital cost to the Company was £484,000.

The new transactions secured £262,736 of income per annum beyond the expiry of the rental guarantee period.

Calum Bruce, Director of Investment at Ediston Properties and the Company’s Investment Manager, said: “Whilst fully accepting the challenging conditions for retail generally, the leasing transactions announced by the Company thus far in 2019 in Sunderland, Barnsley, Prestatyn and now Hull show that well located retail parks, let off sensible rental levels, continue to be attractive to retailers with propositions relevant to the needs of their customers.”