The final Acuitus commercial property auction of 2022 will feature 50-lots including a range of High Street retail assets plus development, warehouse, restaurant, supermarket and ground rent investments.
Acuitus Chairman, Richard Auterac, comments: “The catalogue offers a variety of commercial investments that we expect will tempt buyers. Appetite for retail assets has remained steady through 2022, while properties that offer asset management and development potential have also been in demand across the board”.
The largest lot of the auction is a prime development opportunity on Laporte Retail Park in Luton with a guide price of £3.75m-£4m. Near to Aldi, B&Q, Lidl, Dreams, DFS and SCS, the total site area is 3.46 acres and there is full planning permission for development of a 34,000-sq ft trade counter/warehouse. Heads of Terms have also been agreed with a potential occupier based on a new 15-year lease with a starting annual rent of £517,000.
Acuitus Director and auctioneer, David Margolis comments: “This is an exceptional opportunity in this powerful trading location close to the M1, and will appeal to both developers and owner occupiers”.
The auction includes a number of London investments including a prime Putney High Street asset which comprises two shops and three large flats above. Currently producing annual income of £108,778, there is an immediate opportunity to enhance the income by letting the vacant shop and flat. The guide price for the lot is £2.35m+.
Elsewhere in the auction, a freehold supermarket investment close to Chepstow let to the Co-operative Group has a guide price of £2.85m. The property is sublet to B&M Bargains on a lease expiring 2035 without break options. The current rent is £214,251 and the lease is subject to annual RPI-linked reviews subject to a cap and collar.
Acuitus Director, Charlie Powter comments: “Supermarket investments remain as popular as they always have been but this investment has the added advantage of long secure income with an inflation hedge”.
In Tunbridge Wells, a Grade-II freehold restaurant investment is being offered with a guide price of £900,000. The former pub has a large carpark and now trades as an Indian restaurant. The tenant has recently signed a new 15-year lease at a rent of £96,000 with annual rent reviews in line with RPI.
Acuitus Director, John Mehtab, comments: “Investors are drawn to leisure and hospitality properties by the long leases they tend to offer. This asset has the added advantage of annual RPI reviews. The property sits close to the affluent centre of Tunbridge Wells on a prominent site on the A26, the main approach road”.
The auction on December 15th will also feature two heritable (freehold) ground rent investments in Scotland. The St Giles Shopping Centre in Elgin has a guide of £1.15m and produces annual income of £217,800. The whole centre let is to St Giles Shopping Centre Holdings for 125 years from 2014. in In Aberdeen, the ground rent interest in a 2.07-acre freehold is for sale at a price of £1m. The property is currently occupied by two hotels and 215 car parking spaces.
Mhairi Archibald of Acuitus comments: “These two assets offer excellent prospects to acquire significant asset management opportunities. The site benefits from its location next to Aberdeen Energy Park, extending to 72 acres and the site of the former Conference Centre where planning consent for up to 500 homes has been granted”.
The Acuitus auction will take place on December 15th at 1.30pm and will be broadcast via livestream on the Acuitus website with bidding online, by telephone and by proxy.
