Crown buys in Portsmouth
Published: 02 March, 2011
The Crown Estate has bought the Ocean Retail Park in Portsmouth from capital & Regional and Aviva's Junction Fund for £61m, reflecting a net initialy yield of 5.8 per cent
Ocean Retail Park comprises 170,000 sq ft of retail space in 11 units, and is let to tenants including Homebase, Curry’s, PC World, and Toys R Us. There are also two pod units that have been pre-let.
The Junction Fund has owned Ocean Retail Park Portsmouth since 30 September 2002. During this period the scheme has been comprehensively refurbished and asset managed, including the recent receipt of planning permission for two pod units.
The Junction Fund decided to dispose of the property as part of its strategy to focus on those properties that have greater asset management or development opportunities.The acquisition forms part of The Crown Estate’s ongoing strategy of increasing its weighting to its £1.4bn regional portfolio. It now has £700m committed to out-of-town retail holdings.
James Cooksey, head of the regional portfolio at The Crown Estate said: “We have invested over £260m in retail warehousing in the last year, adding to our critical mass in high quality out-of-town retail, and seeking opportunities to maximise returns through active asset management. We take a long-term view to enhancing the value of our assets and crucial to this is our partnership approach with retailers and stakeholders.”
