Orchard Street Completes Purchase of M25 Industrial Warehouse

Orchard Street Investment Management has completed the acquisition of a newly built distribution warehouse in Belvedere, South East London for £11.3 million (c. €12.7 million) from Buccleuch Property and Wrenbridge Land on behalf of St James’s Place.  Orchard Street was advised on the acquisition by Glenny, while the vendors were advised by Stonehill Partners.  Letting agents for the scheme are CBRE and Glenny.

Planning permission for a standalone 68,360 sq ft industrial development on the 3.8 acre site was obtained by the vendors in August 2017 and contracts were exchanged with Orchard Street on the forward commitment to purchase in October 2017. Construction of the Grade A warehouse, named the Axion Building, commenced in December 2017 with practical completion being achieved in October 2018.

The Axion Building benefits from a prime industrial location, situated in close proximity to the Docklands, central London and the M25, making it strategically placed for both regional and urban distribution. Existing occupiers within close proximity to the site include Amazon, Ocado, Asda, Tesco and Lidl. This, together with its BREEAM “Very Good” rating ensuring low running costs and high environmental sustainability, makes the asset highly attractive to a diverse range of potential occupiers.

 “Our forward-purchase of the Axion Building provided the unique opportunity to acquire a prime warehouse asset in a supply constrained market at an attractive entry price based on our asset management expectations. This site is located within Greater London’s key industrial hub which demonstrates positive growth prospects underpinned by high demand from companies looking to serve their last mile delivery requirements, leaving us confident it will let well,” Richard Walters, Partner at Orchard Street, commented.

“During the planning, design and construction phases, the focus was always on delivering a high quality asset.  The strength of the location and occupier demand for this sector was underlined by our ability to secure £5.9m (c. €6.6 million) of speculative development finance from Royal Bank of Scotland,” Neil Finnie of Buccleuch Property, said.

“Belvedere is a proven location for logistic operators and the new unit looks impressive and benefits from outstanding prominence to Bronze Age Way,” Ewen McLeod of Wrenbridge, added.