Craigard

Persimmon House

Purchased: March 2021
office space in an enviable location

investors are receiving
an income of circa

9.4%

Overview

Persimmon House is located within the well established Crossways Business Park in Dartford.

The property is prominently situated overlooking the lakes and provides an enviable working environment for the current tenants.

In November 2020, the investment was marketed for sale by a UK Institution with an asking price of £3,600,000 (8.00% NIY)

Despite the opportunity being of interest at the time, we were not near the vendor’s pricing aspirations and therefore simply registered our interest and monitored the sales progress through our introducing agent. At the point of marketing in late 2020 the impact of the global pandemic, coupled with the increased caution and feeling of uncertainty around the office sector was apparent. Ultimately this was resulting in a market environment that was not assisting the vendor in securing a successful disposal.

In early 2021 we made contact with the vendors agent where it was confirmed that no proposals had been accepted. Quick to act, we undertook an inspection and following a short period of negotiation, we made an offer of £3,100,000 which the vendor accepted. The property was single let to Westbury Homes (Holdings) Limited until July 2023 at an annual rent of £306,643 (£20.55 per sq. ft.). The tenant had vacated the building, but successfully sub-let the whole space to three established tenants, all of which have indicated a longer-term interest in remaining in occupation. We plan to refurbish the building to include a complete overhaul and replacement of the building’s heating and cooling system. This will subsequently improve each of the tenants’ working space, affording them greater control over their working environment. Furthermore, this will also improve efficiency and should go some way to reducing the occupier’s running costs.

At Craigard we adopt a very selective approach to investing in the office market, which over the years has proven successful. This is a sector that has, and will continue to, adjust following the
effects of COVID-19 and the ultimate change to occupier ‘work life / WFH’ balances. We still have belief that offices similar to Persimmon House will continue to be well-placed to serve the requirements and wants of businesses in an ever changing ‘working’ world as long as landlords (such as us) invest in them and offer tenants quality office space.

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