News: Powell Williams stays on as Benson Elliot sells Slough Retail Park for £63m

Orchard Street Investment Management has acquired the 150,000 sq.ft asset from Benson Elliot on behalf of St James’s Place UK, and has retained Powell Williams to look after its new project.

Slough Retail Park in Berkshire is the biggest furniture retail park in the area, fully-occupied by tenants including DFS, The Range, Sofaworks, Wren Kitchens and Smyths Toys. It provides 152,467 sq.ft of space across eight retail warehouse units, with 546 on-site car parking spaces.

Whole life-cycle approach

Our team conducted the original acquisition survey for long-standing client Benson Elliot in 2016 and we were closely involved with the subsequent improvement programme in conjunction with their asset manager Cube Real Estate. This proactive approach not only allowed the client to derive significant income improvement from the asset, but also increased its capital value which was realised upon the sale.

We also dealt with landlord and tenant matters, such as dilapidations and monitoring tenant works, and supported Benson Elliot through to disposal.

Orchard Street instructs Powell Williams

Due to our unrivalled depth of knowledge of the park, and the endorsement of our clients Benson Elliot and Cube Real Estate, we have since been instructed by Orchard Street to act as Project Manager and Principal Designer for the first of its own improvement works. This involves the construction of a new 1,800 sq.ft drive-thru premises for Costa on the corner of Bath Road, a project which is expected to complete early 2019.