Supermarket REIT Enters C-Store Market: The London Deal Sheet
The Deal Sheet is a weekly compilation of Greater London and beyond's biggest leases, sales, financing deals, construction updates and personnel moves. Have news you’d like to submit? Email mark.faithfull@bisnow.com.
Supermarket Income REIT has completed £41M worth of property acquisitions, including a portfolio of Sainsbury’s convenience stores and a large Tesco site in Northern Ireland, as it redeploys capital from a recent joint venture.
The company said the deals would boost earnings and improve its weighted average unexpired lease term, with an average net initial yield across both transactions of 6.4%.
The largest of the two purchases is a £25.6M acquisition of a 130K SF Tesco omnichannel store in Craigavon, Northern Ireland, which operates as both a retail outlet and a fulfilment hub.
Supermarket Income REIT also entered the convenience grocery store market for the first time, acquiring 10 Sainsbury’s convenience stores for £15.3M.
The outlets average 5,800 SF and include locations in Bristol, Edinburgh, Sheffield and Nottingham.
FINANCE
Curzon De Vere has secured £57M in financing from Eldridge Real Estate Credit to support the expansion of Port One Logistics Park in Ipswich, Suffolk.
The funding has been split between a £16M facility previously used to construct a 220K SF logistics unit and a new £41M loan to fund the next phase of logistics development. The expansion will add approximately 388K SF of logistics facilities designed for occupiers from the e-commerce, distribution and port logistics sectors.
Curzon De Vere’s strategy includes enhancing infrastructure, strengthening the local freight and e-commerce network, and taking advantage of Port One’s strategic location in the Freeport East Zone, the company said.
DEALS
Lloyds Living and housebuilder Keepmoat have agreed to buy 294 family homes in Yorkshire, taking Lloyds Living’s total portfolio of homes to more than 7,600.
The scheme will deliver 294 single-family homes to the private rental sector across four sites in Yorkshire in Hungerhill, Firbeck, South Elmsall and Upton.
This portfolio includes a mix of two-, three- and four-bedroom homes, more than 200 of which will be delivered as all-electric. They will be managed by Lloyds Living Property Management, with the first completions expected in October 2026.
LEASING
Golf and entertainment leisure operator Five Iron Golf is to open its first European location in London at British Land’s Broadgate Campus. The 7K SF space at 1 Finsbury Avenue will anchor the ground floor of the building.
The London flagship marks the first of a multi-unit franchise agreement led by Eric Parker, an early Five Iron Golf investor and longtime member, and will be the foundation for future growth in London and throughout the UK, the company said.
PLANNING
Kensington and Chelsea Council has approved £3B plans lodged by a partnership between developer Ballymore and retailer Sainsbury’s for more than 2,500 homes in Ladbroke Grove.
Kensal Canalside will take 11 years to build and will include towers of up to 29 storeys, with at least 500 affordable homes, two parks and a local high street with new offices, shops, cafés and restaurants, and a reinstated historic canal basin.
Plans also include a new flagship 60K SF Sainsbury’s supermarket with the whole scheme across a 19-acre brownfield site that was a former gasworks.
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Newham Council has approved plans from real estate investor Dominus for a new student housing scheme on Stratford High Street at a vacant brownfield site.
Designed by architect Metropolitan Workshop, the scheme will deliver 692 student beds, including 430 cluster rooms and 262 studios, with 35% offered at rents capped by the Mayor of London.
The 31-storey building will include living spaces with en suite bedrooms, kitchen and dining spaces, roof terraces and space for a gym, yoga studio, laundry and media room. The building will target BREEAM Excellent with a biodiversity net gain of 154% across the scheme.
DEVELOPMENT
Kadans Science Partner has started construction on Plus Ultra Manchester, a 217K SF science and innovation building in the city’s Knowledge Quarter.
Located within the Oxford Road Corridor, home to one of the largest clinical academic campuses in Europe, the building is surrounded by universities, research institutions and technology firms, Kadans said.
Scheduled to complete in the first quarter of 2028, Plus Ultra Manchester will be one of the UK’s largest purpose-built science and innovation developments and is being designed to accommodate organisations across life sciences and health research, advanced materials and deep technology.
PEOPLE
Newmark has appointed Andrew Wheldon and Matthew Bailey to its European finance team, expanding its capital markets advisory in Europe.
Wheldon is a real estate debt adviser, and Bailey has focused on structured finance investment. Newmark President of UK and Europe Michael Lehrman said the move represents Newmark’s continued investment in debt and structured finance in Europe.
