Acuitus launches July catalogue ahead of ‘freedom week’ auction

5th July 2021

The next Acuitus commercial property auction which will take place two days after the scheduled ‘Freedom Day’ lifting of pandemic regulations will feature 42-lots with guide prices ranging from £35,000-£5.5m+.

This sale on July 21st features a wide range of asset types including mixed-use and development opportunities as well as supermarket, pharmacy, banking, medical, assisted living and high street/retail parade investments. Lots on offer in London include properties in Kensington (W8), Stamford Hill (N15), Kingston-upon-Thames (KT1), Southall (UB1) and Sidcup (DA15).

The largest lot of the sale is a prestigious freehold retail and office investment with asset management opportunities in London’s Kensington. The property at 84-86 Kensington High Street comprises two shops with three floors of offices above, with planning permission granted to convert the second and third floors from offices to residential and to extend the offices on the first floor. It produces an annual income of £228,420 and is being offered with a guide price of £5.5m+.

Acuitus Director, David Margolis, comments: “This property represents many of the qualities that are on investors checklists: a property of grandeur and scale in a first class & highly affluent Central London location; sustainable existing income; and the opportunity to enhance its value through partial conversion by developing out the recent planning consent into residential and active asset management including lease re-gears and the possible merging of the commercial units”.

Following the success at Acuitus’s June auction of 14 Avicenna pharmacy investments in Wales, the same number are being offered as part of the July sale. They are all let on new 15-year leases to Avicenna (trading as Sheppards Pharmacy) and are offered with guide prices ranging from £65,000 to £175,000. The pharmacy businesses are all unaffected by the sale of the property interests.

Acuitus Director, Charlie Powter, comments: “The prices achieved for the Avicenna lots at our last sale demonstrated the depth of investor demand for pharmacy-backed assets, and we expect this second tranche to attract strong interest too”.

Other lots in the sale include:

  • Kingston-upon-Thames, London KT1: Freehold retail and residential ground rent investment. Majority let to Pret A Manger until 2028. Producing £181,500 Guide: £1.9m
  • Stamford Hill, London, N15: Freehold mixed-use investment and development opportunity. Extensive mixed-use investment/development opportunity (subject to consents). Producing £109,520 Guide: £1.7m
  • Southall, London, UB1: Freehold retail and residential investment. Retail unit let until 2028 (no breaks). Producing £124,200pa. Guide: £1.85m-£1.95m
  • Victoria Street, Wolverhampton, WV1: Freehold retail parade investment (with residential development potential). Retail tenants include British Heart Foundation, Oxfam, Betfred and BUPA Dental Care. Producing current income of £169,400pa. Guide: £1.7m-£1.8m

Acuitus Chairman, Richard Auterac, comments: “The property market – and indeed, business in general – thrives on confidence and stability. In that context, the planned lifting of pandemic regulations on July 19th will be a major milestone, and we expect it to contribute further to the investor positivity that we have seen at our recent sales”.

The auction will take place at 1pm and will be broadcast via livestream on the Acuitus website with bidding online, by telephone and by proxy.