UK Commercial Property REIT (UKCM) has expanded its industrial and logistics portfolio with the circa £94 million acquisition of a business/industrial park, Precision Park, in Leamington Spa, Warwick.
This follows the acquisition of three new warehouse units, known as Sussex Junction, which are currently under construction near Gatwick airport via a circa £25 million forward funding, and the £35 million purchase of West Gate, a medium term redevelopment site on Hangar Lane in West London, which is let to Kantar UK Limited for 10 years.
Precision Park includes two distribution units extending to over 380,000 sq ft, 65,442 sq ft of office accommodation and development land spanning 3.72 acres. The distribution and office units have been refurbished to an excellent standard, while the development site will be speculatively developed to deliver a high quality 67,700 sqft industrial asset with strong ESG credentials.
Both existing distribution units are currently let to two tenants; IT service management company, Iron Mountain Ltd, and The Secretary of State for the Department of Health & Social Care. The latter is situated in a unit dedicated to being one of the two UK ‘Megalabs’, aimed at increasing the UK’s daily testing capacity for Covid-19 and cementing the UK as a world leader in diagnostics. The unit itself is set to help create up to 4,000 jobs and forms a key part of the UK’s national infrastructure response to future epidemics as well as adding diagnostic capacity for other critical illnesses.
The office accommodation is also let to two technology-focused tenants, including Tata Consultancy Services and a global social networking provider, with the area set to become a more established location for prime tech products.
Precision Park is located in the heart of the Golden Triangle, with the UK’s major road arteries, including the M40 and A452, just a short drive away and Birmingham International Airport 20 minutes away. Its central location means that 90% of the UK’s population is accessible within a five hour drive time.
“The property is well located and well let to very strong covenants in good quality buildings, with a life sciences/tech angle. Its purchase is an excellent fit to fund strategy as it is a multi-faceted investment, encompassing all aspects of what we’re trying to achieve – it not only offers solid income streams but also the opportunity to drive superior performance through asset management and development. The low risk nature of the existing portfolio enables us to take on more development, thereby creating more high quality assets at a significant discount to purchasing up and let stock,’ said Kerri Hunter, Interim Lead Manager at UKCM.
“It is part of a strong pipeline of additional interesting assets UKCM is looking to invest in and builds on the company’s strong portfolio of recent acquisitions, which includes the income-accretive medium term industrial development site in West London and the forward funding of Sussex Junction,” she added.
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