Two Westwood retail parks have been sold for £80m

Hammerson has sold its retail parks at Westwood

Two of Westwood’s retail parks have been sold for £80million.

Westwood Retail Park and Westwood Gateway Retail Park, which houses Homebase, Wren, Tapi, SCS and Dunelm stores, have been sold by Hammerson PLC to BMO Real Estate Partners.

Hammerson made the announcement today (Friday, May 26).

The retail parks cover a total of 24,900 m2.

Hammerson bought Westwood Retail Park in 2002 and since then has repositioned the asset through extensions and tenant engineering.

The adjacent Westwood Gateway site was constructed in 2005 and a new retail terrace was added in 2009. A further extension of two units was added in 2016. Since acquisition, over 15,000 m2 of new floor space has been added and the rental income has increased by over 200%.

The sale price represents a net initial yield of 6.5% and is slightly below December 2016 book value.

David Atkins, CEO Hammerson, said: “We continue to actively manage our retail park portfolio, realising proceeds to recycle into higher growth opportunities. We are progressing with our planned disposal programme for the year and remain committed to reducing leverage ahead of progressing with our development pipeline.”

Hammerson owns 23 shopping centres, 18 retail parks and 19 outlet villages, with partners, across Europe.