British Land buzzes off Beehive Centre in Cambridge -UPDATE

1st Oct 2012 07:02

Property group British Land has sold the Beehive Centre, a retail centre comprising 16 units including an Asda supermarket, to Orchard Street Investment Management.Orchard Street has paid £109.2m for the asset, which reflects a net initial yield of 5.25%.The 238,000 square foot part (sq ft) open consented retail scheme was acquired by British Land in 1998, and is fully let at an average rent of £25 per sq ft with an average lease length of 14 years.The park's entire original tenant line up was completely replaced during British Land's ownership.Commenting on the news analysts at Seymour Pierce had this to say: "This is a good example of British Land managing an asset to maximise its value and then selling it to an investor, in this case Orchard Street Investment management LLP. With concern over the saturation of supermarket retail space in the UK coupled with the vulnerability of large box retail, investors are likely to welcome this additional divestment by BLND from the sector." JH