DTZ Investors has completed on the purchase of Purley Cross Retail Park in Croydon for €66.3m (£59m) from Oval Real Estate. The property is a prime retail park comprising 126,410ft² of lettable floorspace across five units which occupy an 8.6-acre site. The scheme is fully-let with a WAULT of 11.9 years to break and 12 years to expiry. Further income is derived from existing PV and EV infrastructure and there is a 61% income exposure to indexed rent reviews. The tenant-mix creates a complementary hybrid use between the Aldi and M&S supermarkets alongside Smyths Toys,Currys, M&S general merchandise and Starbucks.
Croydon has a reputation as one of the UK’s leading retail warehouse locations due to its draw from a large catchment across the South London arc and surrounding counties. The micro-market is underpinned by low vacancy and constrained supply alongside a track record of robust occupier trade. Three quarters of the asset’s lettable area is either new or newly refurbished with the M&S unit having just benefitted from a multi-million works package linked to the letting. The Aldi, Smyths Toys and Starbucks block was newly developed in 2021 and the Currys unit was substantially refurbished around 2010.
Ben Haller, Director at DTZ Investors, said: “We are delighted to have secured this asset with such strong fundamentals. The occupational dynamics in Croydon, in tandem with the WAULT and tenant profile, offers resilient income with prospects for growth. The underlying location gives flexibility for alternative land uses over the long term whilst the quality of physical real estate immediately strengthens the Fund’s responsible investment objectives.”
