Hermes Real Estate has this week concluded the sale of its leisure asset on Stoke’s Festival Park to the Valad European Diversified Fund for £14.5 million.
The new owner has gained a fully let 130,000 sq ft property within the larger Festival Park development. The 1988 two storey building is home to a ten screen Odeon multiplex cinema and a tenpin bowling alley.
Chief investment officer at Valad Europe, David Kirkby, believes the fund has gained a good asset.
He says; “This is the second leisure park we have acquired so far for the Valad European Diversified Fund and follows the acquisition of Five Ways Leisure Park in Birmingham earlier this month.
“Following the recent doubling of VEDF’s investment capacity to £800 million, we continue to target good quality buildings with strong credit tenants and are prepared to take on leasing and repositioning risk, where appropriate.”
Festival Park, a former industrial site landscaped for the National Garden Festival of 1986, has become one of Staffordshire’s most successful retail and leisure destinations. Along with the cinema and bowling alley, other attractions include the Waterworld indoor swimming complex and a dry ski-slope.
Much of the surrounding area has been used to create a modern and flexible office campus dominated by local success story bet365. The online bookmaker is currently in the process of constructing a new headquarters to consolidate its staff on the site of the former Sentinel building, after the newspaper relocated to offices in the city centre.
Chief executive officer of Hermes Real Estate, Chris Taylor, says; “This sale is another milestone for Hermes Real Estate as we continue our portfolio diversification strategy through refocusing towards our core investments.
“We will continue to maximise returns through asset disposal at the right time in the market cycle.”
Additional Material: Neil Bird
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