August 2, 2022
Fiera Real Estate UK (“FRE UK”) is pleased to announce the sale of West Denton Retail Park in Newcastle on behalf of Fiera Real Estate Long Income Fund UK (“FRELIF”) to Aldi for £5.5m. The asset is situated three miles north-west from Newcastle city centre, just off the A1 and offers excellent road connections for its occupiers in a busy catchment area.
The park comprises a site of 4.58-acres, with three retail warehouse units and a standalone drive thru restaurant. The units provide a total of 40,846 sq.ft of retail floorspace. Aldi has completed on the purchase of the site with a view to securing planning consent for an enhanced retail use and for the demolition of Unit 1, which was previously occupied by Go-Outdoors and will be repurposed for occupation by Aldi. Other occupiers at the park include Jollye’s, British Heart Foundation and McDonalds.
The sale of this asset, with 4.5 years UXT, highlights the fund’s continued movement towards an overall portfolio lease duration of 20 years in line with wider liability matching objectives. The proceeds of sale are being re-invested into new build, long dated and index-linked income assets with an emphasis on ESG excellence.
Anne-Marie Keane, Director at FRE UK commented “We are pleased to have concluded the strategic sale of this legacy holding, successfully delivering on our key Fund objectives of increasing average lease duration, improving tenant credit counter party risk and moving away from assets dependent upon local market factors to deliver future income growth.”.