£7m multi-let industrial estate comes to the market in County Durham

A multi-let industrial estate at Aycliffe Business Park in County Durham has been brought to the market with an asking price of £7m

Commercial property specialist Naylors has been appointed to sell Whinbank Park Industrial Estate on behalf of Manchester-based property company, MCR Property Group.

The 18-acre estate comprises of over 90 industrial units and office suites, and is tenanted by a total of 47 businesses including Techwax, Fabtech and Trinity Kitchens NE Ltd.

MCR, which acquired the estate in 2015, has instructed Naylors and joint agent Allsop to market the freehold investment, which offers investors a net initial yield of 9.4%.

The second largest commercial estate in the region, Aycliffe Business Park extends to almost 1,000 acres and is home to 500 companies employing 10,000 people.

Chris Donabie, director at Naylors said: “Multi-let industrial investments continue to be a sought after commodity and we anticipate Whinbank Park will attract a high level of interest.

“The estate offers a number of opportunities to improve the income profile, such as refurbishments, letting the vacant accommodation and re-gearing leases. Even without such initiatives, this investment offers opportunities for rental uplift in line with current market levels. There are also over 7 acres of development land which offer further scope for increasing the returns.”

Rob Roddy, commercial asset manager at MCR Property Group, said: “As a company, our vision has been to add value to Whinbank as part of our larger commercial portfolio. Over the last 3 years we have undertaken numerous improvements to the Whinbank site and as a result, have stabilised the rental income. The estate is proving extremely popular with occupiers and is now almost fully let”.

“We are committed to working with Naylors and Allsop to market the major flagship site nationally.”

With a total area of 285,000 sqft, Whinbank Park carries a contracted rental income of over £780,500 per annum.