New owner for two phases of Merry Hill Retail Park

Phases two and three offer 197,000 sq ft of retail warehouses and restaurants.

The site of almost 15 acres also offers 600 free parking spaces

Columbia Threadneedle Real Estate, part of Columbia Threadneedle Investments, has also bought Phoenix Retail Park in Corby on behalf of separate client funds for undisclosed sums.

The two acquisitions follow the purchase of Parkgate Shopping Park in Yorkshire earlier this year and reinforce Columbia Threadneedle Real Estate’s position as one of the largest retail park owners in the UK.

Tenants in the two phases of Merry Hill Retail Park include The Range, Currys, Wren Kitchens, DFS and Pets at Home.

Retailers trade from a range of retail formats from 1,900 sq ft to around 52,000 sq ft.

Phoenix Retail Park is the dominant retail park in Corby, offering 118,200 sq ft of retail warehouse accommodation with anchor tenants including M&S Foodhall, Matalan, The Range, Currys, Next and The Food Warehouse.

Tom Elviss, fund manager at Columbia Threadneedle Real Estate, said: “The simultaneous acquisition of both phases two and three at Merry Hill Retail Park from two separate vendors constitutes a majority holding at one of the UK’s dominant retail warehouse clusters in the West Midlands. This presents a significant opportunity to maximise the assets’ potential under single ownership.

“Phoenix Retail Park is set to benefit from Corby’s sizeable residential development pipeline, which brings with it a catchment growth proposition that will allow us to enhance the tenant mix further.

“At both locations, we intend to draw on our strong retailer relationships and scale in the retail warehouse market as we seek to proactively asset manage the holdings to deliver strong returns for our investors.”