SALE OF 301-307 OXFORD STREET, 9th October 2007

The following story appeared in Property Week magazine on 28 September 2007. 

Irish housebuilder bags Oxford Street block.

A shopping block in the heart of London’s West End has been sold to Irish housebuilder Cosgrave.

The 55,000 sq ft retail block at 301-307 Oxford Street, which houses fashion chain River Island, was sold by AXA Real Estate Investment Managers for £86.5m.

The ground and first floor are let to two tenants on 15-year unexpired leases.

The four tenants in the 36,519 sq ft of offices on the top five floors have average unexpired leases of six years. Total rental income is £3.4m a year.

The building is thought to have sold for around the asking price, which is quite an achievement for buildings marketed since the credit crunch began in July.

The only other significant recent sales have been 7-8 St James’s Square, which was sold to Achilles Kallakis’s Pacific Group for £120m. Owner Hermes was in talks to sell to IVG Asticus for £140m.

The acquisition is Cosgrave’s second on Oxford Street after securing 197-213 Oxford Street from Prupim for £132.5m last September.

Cosgrave’s retail portfolio also includes the 441,324 sq ft Liberty shopping centre in Romford, bought from Hammerson in August 2006 for £281m, and the 180,000 sq ft Caxtongate scheme in Birmingham, which it bought for £80m last year.

CB Richard Ellis acted for Cosgrave on the Oxford Street purchase; DE&J Levy advised Axa REIM.