By Scott Wright
THREE retail and office properties on Edinburgh’s George Street, where tenants include a range of upmarket retailers, have been acquired after being put up for sale for around £15 million.
Broadlands Properties has acquired 86, 88 and 90-92 George Street from a client of CBRE Investment Management.
Big-name retailers Hackett, Rohan, Xile, The White Company and Gant operate from the ground floor units of the properties, which span more than 17,800 square feet of prime retail space, while the offices above are occupied by architecture practice Kettle Collective, Grayling Capital, and financial technology company Praemium, among others.
The deal also includes two adjoining buildings, 72 and 74 Rose Street North Lane, which were marketed for redevelopment.
The transaction was brokered by Knight Frank and CuthbertWhite. Knight Frank declared that interest in George Street “defies concerns” about the retail sector, noting that eight of the eleven leases recently made available on the thoroughfare were taken up occupiers.
Euan Kelly, a partner at Knight Frank, said: “There was a high level of interest in the George Street assets, despite the well-publicised challenges the retail sector has faced in recent years.”
“They were originally marketed as four separate properties, but it says a lot about the buyer’s confidence in Edinburgh retail that they have decided to acquire all of them together.
“Edinburgh city centre has strong fundamentals from both a retail and office perspective, with limited supply and a sustained high level of demand. There is an argument to be made that sentiment towards bricks and mortar retail had swung too far in one direction during the heights of the Covid-19 pandemic, but it is beginning to come back and George Street in particular has held up better than many people would have thought.”
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