British Land buys 50% of Eden Walk mall near London

UK REIT British Land has purchased a 50% stake in Eden Walk shopping centre in Kingston-upon-Thames, South West London, from Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) for £41.5 mln (EUR 53 mln), reflecting a net initial yield of 5.35%.

The acquisition forms another joint venture between British Land and USS, who will continue to hold the remaining 50% stake. British Land and USS are already joint venture partners developing the Whiteley Shopping Centre in South Hampshire.

Eden Walk is a 276,000 sq ft (25,600 m2) open shopping centre in the centre of Kingston. It has 22 shop units, three offices and a 697 space multi-storey car park. The centre was built in 1968, extended in 1979 and refurbished in 2010, and is anchored by Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's, Boots and BHS. British Land will take responsibility for the asset management of the shopping centre with immediate effect.

As part of the transaction, British Land will act as development manager appraising opportunities to extend and enhance the centre in liaison with other key stakeholders, including The Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames.

British Land and USS are developing the 300,000 sq ft new build Whiteley mall in Hampshire which is already 76% pre-let/under offer and is due to open in spring 2013. The scheme will comprise over 50 units totalling 242,000 sq ft of retail space, 58,000 sq ft of restaurants, cafés and other facilities and 1,136 free car park spaces.

CBRE acted for British Land and USS was represented by Jones Lang LaSalle and Morgan Williams.