Redevco — one of Europe’s largest investment managers of high street property — has paid more than £50m for a 1.3-acre site in the centre of Brighton’s shopping district. The Hanningtons Estate’s plot was once occupied by the city’s biggest department store.
The Amsterdam-headquartered company’s UK acquisition follows its purchase of two retail sites in Paris and Belgium and is in line with Redevco’s long-term investment strategy of “focussing on assets which will both survive and flourish in the digital revolution that is currently sweeping the world’s high streets”.
Following the deal with former owners Royal Bank of Scotland, the company plans to undertake a mixed use development on the city centre site. Although details of the project have yet to unveiled, Redevco says it wants to create a new Brighton Lane that would include shops, apartments and offices.
“This will perfectly complement the strategic location of the estate which sits between the existing historic north and south Lanes within the prime retail area of the thriving south coast city,” the company said in a statement.
The portfolio acquired by Redevco around the site of the former Hanningtons department store, consists of nine adjoining and interconnecting buildings comprising totalling 121,093 sq ft. This currently incorporates 29 retail units around 70,000 sq ft, more than 19,000 sq ft of offices and 41 residential units covering 33,600 sq ft.
“The Hanningtons Estate epitomises all the key factors that Redevco is looking for in its retail investments,” explained Adam Starr, managing director at Redevco UK. “It’s located in an attractive, historic shopping district at the centre of a town that is a magnet for visitors and has an affluent and creative population.
“There are also numerous opportunities to add value through asset management and development as we have done in high streets located in historic areas in towns and cities across Europe for many years.
“We are also delighted to have been able to complete the complex transaction in a very tight timeframe after securing the opportunity against some strong competition,” he added.
Helen Gordon, the global head of RBS Real Estate Asset Management, added: “Having undertaken a significant amount of active management and improvement works to the Hanningtons Estate, including achieving detailed planning for a new Brighton Lane, as well as an upgrade to the public realm on North Street, we are pleased that the site will be in the hands of a well-respected long term owner in Redevco.”
Brighton — which attracts almost eight million visitors a year — already has a large proportion of independent shops and boutique stores and is ranked third in terms of retailer demand among UK urban centres.
It is also placed 14th in the UK and 59th in Europe as offering a “very good” retail experience under Redevco’s “City Attractiveness” market research designation, placing it roughly on a par with Bonn in Germany and Bordeaux in France.
Knight Frank and GCW advised Redevco, which has built its success on buying into prime buildings on the principal shopping streets of attractive retail destinations across Western Europe, as well as shopping centres and dominant out-of-town retail parks.
A pan-European real estate investment company, it currently controls 420 assets, and is partnered with more than 1,000 retailers, in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
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