Cording Real Estate Group, the Northern European real estate investment and asset management firm, has acquired a landmark office building in Edinburgh’s prime office district for €44.2mln (£32.2 mln).
Cording has purchased Westport 102, which is located in Edinburgh’s Exchange District and adjacent to Edinburgh Castle, for Britannia Invest, an investment company for Danish pension funds to which Cording provides investment management services. The net initial yield is 6.2%.
Westport 102 is a 8,841 m² (95,174 ft²) building, situated on a prominent corner site fronting Westport between Lady Lawson Street and Lauriston Street. It is 76% leased, with a strong tenant line up, including The Scottish Ministers, Audit Scotland and Broadcom and a Sainsburys Local store on the ground floor. The average rent on the office space is around €9/m² (£22.00/ft²). There are three vacant office suites available to let, totalling 2,115 m² (22,774 ft²).
Ewan Montgomery, Director of Investment, London, at Cording, said: “This acquisition complements Britannia Invest’s portfolio and is in line with our strategy to focus on high-quality buildings with the potential to grow income in the strongest UK office markets. With a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ rating, highly-specified space and the extremely low availability of Grade A offices in Edinburgh city centre, we feel we are well placed to secure full occupancy in the building.
“The fund has significant capital to invest and is in the market looking for similar acquisition opportunities”.
Cording Real Estate Group was advised by Lewis Ellis; the vendor was unrepresented.
Source: Cording Real Estate Group
