Land Secs completes sale of Sainsbury's store

The Harvest Limited Partnership, a joint venture between Land Securities and J Sainsbury, has completed the £51 mln (EUR 57.5-mln) sale of the existing 7,400-m² Sainsbury's store site in Wandsworth, London to Prupim, acting on behalf of the M&G Secured Property Income Fund.

The Harvest Partnership has been retained by the purchasers to manage the future development of the property. The construction work is due to start on site in January 2012 and will comprise a 28,000-sq-ft extension of the food store together with a 120-bed Premier Inn and an additional retail unit of 21,000 sq ft.

The enlarged Sainsbury's and the new retail unit are expected to open in March 2013 and the hotel in August 2013. The existing Sainsbury's will continue to trade throughout the development.

Nabarro acted on behalf of the Harvest Limited Partnership. The sale and letting agent is Jones Lang LaSalle and the architect is Carey Jones. The retail unit is now offered on the market.

The M&G Secured Property Income Fund managed by Prupim already owns a number of Sainsbury stores following the purchase in January this year of three Sainsbury supermarkets in Worcester, Truro and Huddersfield.

M&G Secured Property Income Fund was launched in 2007 and invests primarily in UK commercial real estate with fixed or inflation-linked rental uplifts. Many of its investments have been in sale-and-leaseback constructions.