December 20, 2017
Buccleuch Property and joint venture partner Wrenbridge has sold Mill Court, a 38,840 sq. ft. business park in Great Shelford, Cambridge, for £9.85m. The site was sold to Hermes Real Estate Investment Management reflecting a net initial yield of 7.3%.
An established office scheme comprising five office buildings set within landscaped surroundings, with on-site car parking encompassing 155 marked spaces, Buccleuch Property purchased Mill Court in 2014.
A joint venture with Wrenbridge, who together asset managed the park, Buccleuch Property made a significant investment of over £0.5m in the site to further enhance the offering.
In addition to refreshing the buildings both internally and externally, high speed broadband with rates of up to 800mb per second was also installed to improve the IT infrastructure, branding and signage was upgraded, and new electric car charging points and cycle racks were added to the car park.
Through these improvements and its flexible approach to lettings, Buccleuch Property provided tenants with high quality office space and attracted organisations of all sizes; Mill Court is home to Subway’s head office, as well as local start-up Starleaf, which significantly upsized its R&D office in the park during the ownership.
Nick Waugh, Commercial Property Director at Buccleuch Property, said: “There is a strong demand for high quality office space in Cambridge and the investment we made in Mill Court has given both large and small businesses the opportunity to access premium, yet affordable, accommodation with good transport links.
“Working with Wrenbridge we were able to provide tailored office space to suit the needs of tenants, and with a number of small businesses coming on board this was even more important.
“Mill Court is a prime example of Buccleuch Property’s full portfolio of skills and partnership working, from successfully asset managing the site through to securing new tenants and selling it to Hermes, and we continue to actively seek new investment and development opportunities like this across the UK.”
James Feltham, Associate Director at Wrenbridge, said: “We have seen considerable rental growth at Mill Court which reflects the performance of the wider Cambridge office market and the property’s location, benefitting from excellent transport links, neighbouring science parks and Astra Zenica’s new headquarters”.