Areli reduces Orpington retail and leisure scheme price by nearly a fifth

Areli Real Estate has relaunched the sale of Crown House in Orpington, a 71,149 sq ft retail and leisure scheme, with Knight Frank, inviting offers of more than £10.5m. The site was previously brought to market by Knight Frank in March this year for £13m. Crown House is part of the wider Walnuts Shopping Centre, which Areli and Tikehau Capital acquired from Patrizia in 2019 for £30m at an 8% net initial yield. The freehold mixed-use scheme, developed in 2015, comprises a seven-screen Odeon cinema and a PureGym premises. Other tenants include restaurants Nando’s, Taco Bell and Tamak, and retailers B&M, Kutchenhaus and Cards Direct. Crown House has a gross income of £1,048,346 per annum and a net income of £1,025,570 per annum. It has a WAULT of 11.8 years to break and 12.9 years to expiry. Some 58% of the total income is subject to fixed or RPI-linked rental uplifts. The relaunch comes as Redcliff Cap, formerly Areli Finance, has been appointed to draw up a new masterplan for the redevelopment of the Walnuts Shopping Centre. Redcliff Cap, which has no association with Areli Real Estate, has been appointed by Tikehau Capital. Michael Whitney, head of development at Redcliff Cap, told EG: “We have taken the community’s comments on board regarding the previous application, and we want to engage with the public on what they want from their town centre. “We are approaching it from a ground-up perspective, and are working over a three-month period to understand what people’s aspirations are for the town centre.” Areli had filed plans in 2021 to redevelop the site into 990 homes, but the plans were withdrawn in 2022 owing to “issues raised by the local community”. The developer’s initial plans for the site had included redeveloping the high street shopping centre into six residential blocks, ranging in height from four to 19 storeys, as well as new retail space, a leisure centre and a daycare centre. The company had said the scheme could bring £500m of inward investment to the area. However, the application received 2,500 objections over the scale of the development and the potential strain that local services would be under if it was approved. To send feedback, e-mail akanksha.soni@eg.co.uk or tweet @AkankshaEG or @EGPropertyNews View other availabilities in Orpington >>