Introduction
25 - 35 Castle Street and 100-104 George Street, Edinburgh is a high profile and prime mixed use building with a prominent location on the corner of Castle Street and George Street, Edinburgh's premier shopping and dining destination, surrounded by luxury shops and hospitality venues. The building is occupied by a diverse range of tenants, including Pret a Manger, Fazenda, ChaoPhraya and Slaters.
With some significant competition for this investment from other property companies, funds and high net worth individuals, we were instructed by Broadland Property Group to work with them and their advisers, Cuthbert White, J & E Shepherd and Pearce Wheldon, to complete the due diligence and subsequent acquisition within a challenging and tight timescale.
Broadland Property Group is a family run office with other existing holdings on George Street and this most recent acquisition was an opportunity to assist them with their strategic objective to derive long term returns from continued investment in this locality, which is one of the prime retail and office sectors in Scotland.
Key highlights:
- Acquisition of heritable (freehold) interest in the property from a client of CBRE Investors
- Due diligence on 10 occupational tenants including restaurants, shops and offices
- An opportunity to support with the ongoing asset management
- Advising on a new lease of one major retail unit
- The MFMac team working collaboratively with support from our planning, construction and employment law colleagues
- The MFMac team working closely with the clients and other external advisers to drive the clients strategic objectives
Conclusion
With multiple tenants and a challenging timescale, this was a complex acquisition which showcased the pivotal role played by the MFMac team working together with our clients, their agents and other advisers. Our ability to manage the multiple aspects of the transaction and provide clear advice was key to this process and allowed us to complete within five weeks of receiving agreed Heads of Terms.
As we move into Q3 and the rest of 2024 there are genuine signs that activity levels in the institutional investment market are improving. While there are nuances affecting values in every sector of the investment market in Scotland this transaction is perhaps a sign of improving confidence in the prime retail and office markets in central Edinburgh.
