A popular Colchester retail park has been sold to a private South African investor as part of a deal worth almost £34million.
The sale of Stane Retail Park marks the first major retail park acquisition of the year, with Pembrey Asset Management’s client taking ownership of the recently developed, purpose-built space from The Churchmanor Estates Company for £33.95m.
Matt Cloke, Development Director at Churchmanor Estates, said: “We are delighted to have completed this sale, marking the conclusion of 12 years’ ownership and development of Stane Park by Churchmanor Estates, which started with the opening of the adjacent leisure park in 2017.
“The successful sale is a testament to the strength of the location, the quality of the development and the tenant line-up that we have put together.”
The retail park is centred around an 80,000sqft M&S store, surrounded by a strong national tenant line-up which includes the likes of Superdrug, Mountain Warehouse and Furniture Village.
In total, the retail park comprises 123,367sqft of retail accommodation – with the nearby B&Q and Aldi held in a separate freehold ownership.
The scheme offers an attractive WAULT of 14 years to expiry and excellent ESG credentials, with a BREEAM rating of ‘Very Good’.
Marcus Wood, of Cushman & Wakefield, who represented Pembrey Asset Management and its investor client, said: “2025 is set to be another strong year for retail warehouse investment volumes.
“C&W recorded £3.5billion of out of town stock in 2024 and whilst there was a huge surge in transaction volume in Q4, very little of that was of the quality that attracted our client towards Colchester.”
Matthew Robinson, of Investec Bank PLC, who provided the senior loan to the investor, added: “We are delighted to have been able to assist our client in acquiring this high-quality retail asset.
“With a long track record of supporting both domestic and international buyers with investment and development funding solutions, we are well placed to continue supporting our clients.”