Edinburgh-based Buccleuch Property has invested in the buoyant Cambridge office market with the £6.3m acquisition of a distressed business park.
Mill Court, which currently has 15 tenants, is situated next to Shelford railway station on the south side of Cambridge and was bought from the receivers to the previous owners.
In a parallel deal, Buccleuch Property has created a new partnership with Cambridge-based property company, Wrenbridge. The joint venture will aim to maximise the rental and development potential of Mill Court while seeking out further local investments.
Spread across five office buildings — and totalling more than 40,000sq ft — the new venture says it will also consider selling off some units to long-term occupiers.
Cambridge is the fifth fastest growing city in the UK and has one of the most prosperous office markets. Mill Court is an established office scheme with easy access to the city centre and is only two miles from Astra Zeneca’s new 400,000sq ft headquarters.
Nick Waugh is investment director at Buccleuch Property. “Cambridge is an area where we have been considering investment for a long time as the market continues to go from strength to strength and the availability of quality office accommodation reduces,” he explained.
“Mill Court has been in receivership and provides us with a high quality scheme with a number of interesting asset management opportunities. Likewise, working with Wrenbridge will provide us with excellent local experience and knowledge of the area.”
With offices in Edinburgh and London, Buccleuch Property has an investment portfolio of £350m and an office and commercial development pipeline in excess of two-million square feet. Its joint venture with Wrenbridge is nothing new. Buccleuch is already co-operating with more than dozen UK partners on commercial, residential, leisure and retirement scheme.
“We are delighted to be working with Buccleuch in the next phase of transformation at Mill Court where we have been an occupier ourselves for 16 years.” said Ben Coles, chief executive of Wrenbridge.
“We have an exciting asset management plan for the park including the vacant units where we may sell units off on a freehold basis.”
Earlier this month, Buccleuch Property confirmed it had entered into a joint venture with private equity firm Moorfield Group to develop 500,000sq ft of industrial, office and warehouse space in Aberdeen.
The joint venture — called Buccmoor LP — went ahead after Aberdeen council granted planning permission for the development of a 47-acre site just outside the city. Moorfield Real Estate Fund III acquired Aberdeen Energy and Innovation Parks in September from Buccleuch Property and Scottish Enterprise in a deal reportedly worth £35.4m.
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