The final Acuitus commercial property auction of 2022 will feature 50 lots, including a range of high street retail assets plus development, warehouse, restaurant, supermarket and ground rent investments.
Acuitus chairman Richard Auterac said: “The catalogue offers a variety of commercial investments that we expect will tempt buyers. Appetite for retail assets has remained steady through 2022, while properties that offer asset management and development potential have also been in demand across the board.”
The largest lot of the 15 December auction is a prime development opportunity on Laporte Retail Park in Luton with a guide price of £3.75m-£4m. The total site area is 3.46 acres and there is full planning permission for development of a 34,000 sq ft trade counter/warehouse. Heads of terms have also been agreed with a potential occupier based on a new 15-year lease with a starting annual rent of £517,000.
The auction includes a number of London investments, including a prime asset on Putney High Street comprising two shops and three large flats above (pictured). Currently producing annual income of £108,778, there is an immediate opportunity to enhance the income by letting the vacant shop and flat. The guide price for the lot is £2.35m-plus.
Elsewhere in the sale, a freehold supermarket investment close to Chepstow let to the Co-operative Group has a guide price of £2.85m. The property is sublet to B&M Bargains on a lease expiring in 2035 without break options. The current rent is £214,251 and the lease includes annual RPI-linked reviews subject to a cap and collar.
In Tunbridge Wells, a Grade II listed freehold restaurant investment is being offered with a guide price of £900,000. The former pub has a large car park and now trades as an Indian restaurant. The tenant has recently signed a new 15-year lease at a rent of £96,000 with annual rent reviews in line with RPI.
Acuitus director John Mehtab said: “Investors are drawn to leisure and hospitality properties by the long leases they tend to offer. This asset has the added advantage of annual RPI reviews. The property sits close to the affluent centre of Tunbridge Wells on a prominent site on the A26, the main approach road.”
The auction will also feature two heritable (freehold) ground rent investments in Scotland. The St Giles Shopping Centre in Elgin has a guide price of £1.15m and produces annual income of £217,800. The whole centre is let to St Giles Shopping Centre Holdings for 125 years from 2014. In Aberdeen, the ground rent interest in a 2.07-acre freehold is for sale at a price of £1m. The property is currently occupied by two hotels and 215 car parking spaces.
The auction will take place at 1.30pm on 15 December and will be live-streamed on the Acuitus website with bidding online, by telephone and by proxy.
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