M&G Real Estate has acquired the Riverside retail park in Chelmsford, to the northeast of London, for £53 mln (€58 mln).

riverside

Riverside

The vendor was the British Airways Pension Fund.

The retail park is located close to Chelmsford town centre and incorporates 145,000 sq ft (13,500 m2) of floor space. Retail and leisure occupiers include Sports Direct, Tapi Carpets, Home Sense as well as a Nuffield Health gym, Costa Coffee and McDonald’s.

Sections of the retail park were recently refurbished, enabling a letting to sporting goods retailer Decathlon in spring 2017.

'This latest acquisition fits with our strategy to source high quality retail assets in towns with strong demographics where there is a depth of occupier demand and opportunity for active management,' said John Duxbury, head of retail and leisure at M&G Real Estate.