Land Securities has taken 100 per cent control of Glasgow’s Buchanan Galleries in a sale-and- share deal that sees it relinquish its 50 per cent stake in Princesshay shopping centre in Exeter.
Confirming the transaction, Land Securities — the largest commercial property company in Britain — said the £127.9m sale of the Princesshay mall and surrounding properties to TIAA Henderson Real Estate involved almost 590,000sq ft of retail and office space. The sale excludes Land Securities’ 50 per cent interest in 1-11 Sidwell Street which is occupied by retailer John Lewis.
Simultaneously, the global property investor TIAA Henderson sold its half share in the Buchanan Galleries to Land Securities for £137.5m, giving total ownership of the Glasgow complex.
The award winning Princesshay was developed by Land Securities in 2007 and, together with surrounding properties, is jointly owned with The Crown Estate. It was specifically designed to seamlessly integrate into the city centre, “with a diverse range of architectural styles respecting not only existing street patterns, vistas and views, but also local heritage and its immediate proximity to Exeter Cathedral”.
Buchanan Galleries currently covers 600,000sq ft of prestige space and houses 90 of the UK’s best known high street retailers. Anchor tenants include Hollister, H & M, Mango, Lipsy, Thomas Sabo, Boux Avenue and John Lewis. Land Securities already has permission for an extension that would increase the centre’s area to 1.2m square feet of retail, leisure and restaurant space.
Scott Parsons is retail managing director at Land Securities, which owns and manages more than 24m square feet of commercial and retail property worth in excess of £11.8bn. “These two transactions give us the opportunity to take full control in Glasgow ahead of the planned extension, while also exiting Princesshay in line with our strategy of reshaping the retail portfolio to focus on the key themes of dominance, experience and convenience,” he explained.
“Our planned retail development programme, of which the proposed extension to Buchanan Galleries forms part, will create the very best shopping environments in some of the UK’s top retail destinations.”
TIAA Henderson is currently in the process of redeveloping a section of London’s “Leadenhall Triangle” which it acquired from the administrators in June, 2011, for a reported £190m. The outstanding debt on the site was around £172m.
Its proposed £400m scheme for the site has already attracted praise and criticism in equal measure. The building would vary in height by being laid in a series of vertical slices ranging from seven to 34 stories and, when complete, would offer 890,000sq ft of office space and 20,000sq ft within its retail units.
