Crosstree Real Estate Partners has agreed a deal to buy St Modwen Properties’ Edmonton Green as it looks to undertake a major regeneration of the area and take advantage of negative sentiment in the retail market.
Crosstree, which is backed by the Swiss pharmaceuticals billionaire Bertarelli family and led by Sean Arnold, ex-head of European acquisitions at Starwood Capital, and Nick Lyle, former Blackstone head of UK, has agreed to pay close to £70m for the north London project.
The price agreed for the 465,000 sq ft town centre development reflects a yield of around 7%. It produces total net income of nearly £5.2m pa.
The site takes in 26 acres of retail, leisure and community amenities including a shopping centre, leisure centre, Travelodge hotel and market.
There is a major opportunity to enhance value through the development of around 1,000 flats. There is also potential to improve the existing retail offer, which is broadly seen by prospective investors as providing a community offer that is successful and appropriate for the catchment.
St Modwen has already secured approval for 77 private rented apartments on the site, alongside a refurbishment of the North Mall.
The developer, which instructed GCW to sell the scheme in June, has owned the centre for nearly two decades. It bought an over-riding 150-year lease over the entire Edmonton Green Shopping Centre in 1999 from the London Borough of Enfield.
As well as Edmonton Green, Crosstree is also in the process of developing a designed outlet at The O2 with joint venture partner AEG; 1 Berkeley Street, W1, a 1.1-acre freehold site with planning consent to develop a 400,000 sq ft mixed-use scheme; and The Standard, London, a 270-bedroom hotel that is under development in King’s Cross.
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