Global real estate investment manager Cromwell Property Group has sold a four-building office campus in southern England to a fund managed by First Property Group (Fprop) for £62.5 mln (€71 mln).
Imperial Place in Borehamwood is a 220,540 ft2 (20,490 m2) multi-let in-town office complex, which has 24 tenancies and 18 different business occupiers including Affinity Sutton Homes, Alstom Transport, Buyagift, Just Eat, Regus, Signet Trading and Taylor Wimpey.
Cromwell, which acquired the asset in August 2014, extensively refurbished the property, signing 11 new leases and increasing average rents from £18.50 per ft2 to £22.50 per ft2, with the most recent occupier taking space at a headline rent of £25 per ft2.
'A key driver for our acquisition of Imperial Place was the identification of an opportunity to improve and re-let the vacant space in a market with reducing office stock,' commented Stephen Cahoon, head of UK asset management at Cromwell.
'Office to residential conversion had been increasingly active resulting in a very tight office market. Our asset management team have done a great job and added real value by creating a quality product that appeals to occupiers, taking occupancy from 88% to 100% and increasing the annual rent roll by 29%.'
'Borehamwood is a well-located office campus set to benefit from continuing strong occupier demand,' said a spokesperson from Fprop. 'We believe that current rents are attractively priced compared to surrounding offices in areas like Watford, St Albans and other locations close to the M25.'
Gerald Eve acted for Cromwell Property Group and Knight Frank advised Fprop.
