Aberdeen Asset Management has bought the commercial element of Albert Dock in Liverpool, which attracts 6 million visitors a year to attractions such as The Beatles Story and the Tate Gallery.
Aberdeen paid about £42.75 million (€56.76 million) for the development to Albert Dock Company, a subsidiary of Arrowcroft Group, which saved the 1840s dockyard from dereliction in the early 1980s.
The net initial yield – the annualised rent of the property expressed as a percentage of the property value – is around 5.6%.
The investment totals over 400,000 square feet of hotel, leisure, retail and office accommodation and is home to occupiers including Holiday Inn, Premier Inn, The Beatles Story, Gusto and Miller and Carter as well as a number of independent tenants.
Albert Dock has the largest Grade 1 collection of buildings in the UK and is listed by Unesco as a World Heritage site.
Robert Cass, head of UK property transactions at Aberdeen, said: “In an age of convenience and online shopping, destinations need to really stand out and Albert Dock and the wider Waterfront area does just that.”
He says the commercial opportunity of Albert Dock will increase as Liverpool’s economy continues to grow.
“There are really compelling investment opportunities in northern cities where economic and employment growth is strong and will be underpinned by increasing devolution,” adds Cass.
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