The Regional Office Property Unit Trust (‘ROPUT’), advised and managed by Schroder Real Estate, has exchanged unconditional contracts to acquire St James House in Cheltenham for £21.8 million. The price reflects a net initial yield of 7.5%.
St James House is a good quality, freehold office in central Cheltenham. The building comprises 81,731 sq ft encompassing the basement to fourth floor and is multi-let to seven tenants including the Office for Nuclear Regulation, Barnett Waddingham, Brewin Dolphin, BPE Solicitors and Crowe LLP at an average rent of £23 per sq ft.
Tom Newman, Fund Manager at Schroder Real Estate, commented:
“Cheltenham has been a target location for ROPUT as a result of its low-Grade A supply, highly skilled workforce and a growing cyber security sector due to the influence of GCHQ.
“St James House offers secure income with good fundamentals that should support future tenant demand and rental growth. On completion ROPUT will have 17 regional offices offering good fundamentals at affordable rents in strong and undersupplied regional cities and towns.”
CBRE acted for Schroder Real Estate and Savills for the vendor AEGON.