Praxis buys Chelmsford office in £200m regional push
Investor and real estate manager Praxis is seeking to deploy £200m into regional properties to “exploit the serious shortage of grade-A office space across the UK”.
The news comes after Praxis bought 90-96 Victoria Road in Chelmsford, Essex, a 70,000 sq ft prime city centre office that was developed by insurer and vendor MS Amlin in 2015. The property sold for £12m.
Under the deal, MS Amlin has taken a lease on part. Other tenants in the building include Medsol Healthcare and Atkins.
Investor and real estate manager Praxis is seeking to deploy £200m into regional properties to “exploit the serious shortage of grade-A office space across the UK”.
The news comes after Praxis bought 90-96 Victoria Road in Chelmsford, Essex, a 70,000 sq ft prime city centre office that was developed by insurer and vendor MS Amlin in 2015. The property sold for £12m.
Under the deal, MS Amlin has taken a lease on part. Other tenants in the building include Medsol Healthcare and Atkins.
Praxis said it had invested more than £50m via four deals in as many months, with a further £60m of deals in solicitors’ hands. It said it was “committed to significantly increasing its portfolio” and was “targeting best-in-class properties in major economic centres across the country”.
Charlie Arden, investment manager at Praxis, said: “We are seeing sustained demand across our portfolio for best-in-class product that is competitively priced, and we are committed to growing our portfolio at a time when a lot of investors still seem to be sitting on the sidelines, unable to decide whether offices have a future or not.
“Frankly, we aren’t seeing a lot of competition in many of the regional submarkets we like. We are confident that we will be able to deliver outsized returns by doing what we are renowned for, namely stock picking and good old-fashioned, back-to-basics asset management.”
He added that the existing vacancy at the Chelmsford property allowed for the “opportunity to reposition the building through targeted capital expenditure, enhancing its ESG credentials and proactively engaging with occupiers seeking high-quality office space in Chelmsford city centre”.
Arden said: “[The Chelmsford] acquisition perfectly exemplifies our strategy of acquiring best-in-class office buildings situated in constrained leasing markets with strong underlying fundamentals.”
Savills and Finn & Co advised on the Chelmsford deal.
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