Lisney complete £17.6m property sale

Belfast based property consultants Lisney have completed the sale of two properties, West Belfast's major shopping complex The Park Centre and 40/52 Main Street, Bangor, for £17.6 million.

The Park Centre, which was constructed in 1984 and refurbished in 1996, and the Main Street Bangor site, which was formerly occupied by Wellworths, have been bought by a Northern Ireland based investment company following strong interest from many local private investors.

The Main Street Bangor site comprises a unit of 36,000 sq ft and is currently vacant. This location is set to improve following the announcement that the Flagship Centre is to be refurbished and extended.

The sale of the Park Centre, which covers 132,000 sq ft at the highly visible location fronting the M1 motorway at Broadway Roundabout, reflected a net initial yield of 7.72% after the normal purchaser's costs of 5.75%.

Andrew Marsden, Director at Lisney said: "Investment in the retail sector is particularly attractive to private investors at the moment because of the continuing low interest rates and the strong performance of the retail property sector in recent years.

"The Park Centre presented a rare shopping centre investment opportunity and the fact that the property was sold by Private Treaty without the need for extensive marketing shows a strong interest from private investors for local retail property.

"The Centre also offers significant opportunities for further asset enhancement and the new owners are already considering plans to update and extend the Park Centre which will provide improved resources for tenants and shoppers alike."

The new owners have retained Lisney as managing agents of the scheme and it is believed that the owners are already considering plans to refurbish and extend the centre.

The construction of the Westlink flyover at Broadway Roundabout which may start in 2003 will significantly improve access to the Centre.

(MB)