A busy North Staffordshire industrial estate has been sold for more than £11 million.
Parkhouse Industrial Estate, on Brookhouse Road in Newcastle-under-Lyme, has been snapped up by new owners – for almost double what it was bought for five years ago.
The site – which boasts 13 units totalling 155,000 sqft – was sold by agents Harris Lamb on behalf of BlackRock Industrial Trust, which acquired the estate in 2014 for £6.4 million.
Over the last five years, BlackRock has invested in significant improvements at the site, including full internal refurbishment of units, sub-division of buildings, new gas and electricity supplies as well as re-spraying external cladding, new doors and windows and repairs to road and yard areas.
Now the commercial estate – which is fully occupied and home to a number of national retailers such as Screwfix, Tool Station and DHL – has been sold to global infrastructure and real estate investor InfraRed.
Andrew Groves, director at Harris Lamb, said: “As a result of the proactive asset management and investment by the landlord in the estate, we have successfully attracted several national occupiers to the business park.
“We have also been able to renew and re-gear leases with existing occupiers such as FedEx, ATS an Arpa 海角视频, all of whom have been willing to extend their commitment to the estate due to the improvements made.
“The annual rental income has increased significantly over this period of time and the quality of the tenant line-up is at an all-time high, making it an attractive acquisition for potential buyers.”
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Justin Marshall, of Harris Lamb’s investment team, added: “We identified back in 2014 that this estate was crying out for fresh investment, it had been allowed to deteriorate for some years and as a result rents had stagnated, leases were often short, and the quality of tenants had begun to weaken.
“These factors made it an ideal asset for BlackRock. A business plan was set in motion, improving the quality of the space, attracting trade counter occupiers, increasing rents significantly, securing longer leases and generally breathing new life into the estate.”
New owners InfraRed – which has offices in London, the USA, Mexico, Hong Kong, Korea and Australia – told Harris Lamb that Parkhouse Industrial Estate was the ‘perfect addition to its North West Urban Logistics Fund.’