Segro has sold its Victoria Road warehouse to Imperial College London for £115m, with the university set to use the property for early-stage companies conducting scientific innovation.
Located in Park Royal, West London, the 10-acre urban warehouse estate has been owned and operated by Segro since 2009, when it acquired Brixton plc.
Segro said that the age and layout of the estate has meant that it had recent begun to stop renting to tenants and pursue redevelopment of the property, leaving it just 64 per cent occupied and generating rent of £3.2m.
Imperial will operate the site to provide commercial science innovation facilities to early-stage companies as part of the ‘Westtech Corridor’, a new project from the university in West London meant as a hub for innovation and technological advancement.
The site has been identified for future mixed-use development by Imperial’s strategic partners Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation and Ealing Council as part of the area’s regeneration plans.
“Segro Park Victoria Road has performed very well for Segro over the past decade. This sale to a special purchaser, for the provision of commercial science and innovation facilities, allows us to reinvest the proceeds into our wider London portfolio,” said Bonnie Minshull, head of London at Segro.
“Imperial’s Westtech Corridor vision is a welcome initiative from a world-leading institution, adding another powerful driver of demand to London’s primary industrial and logistics cluster, in which Segro owns approximately 6 million square feet of space.”
“Imperial College London is investing in its ambitious vision for a new globally competitive deep tech innovation ecosystem in West London,” added Imperial president Hugh Brady.
“The Imperial Westtech Corridor will act as a powerful engine for investment, inclusive economic growth, and job creation at a local, regional, and national level supported by the Government’s emerging Industrial Strategy.”