The Acorn Business Centre and accompanying development land at the Werrington Centre has been sold to Knightsbridge Real Estate Asset Management, with Melbourne Holdings purchasing the office buildings iGO4 House (20,194 sq ft) and Olympus House (17,729 sq ft).
The transaction, which generated in excess of £3.1m, marks the end of an era for the business, which purchased the site in 1997. Howard Group was instrumental in achieving planning for a 75,000 sq ft superstore on the site prior to selling a large part of the centre to Tesco in 2007.
This final disposal of non-core legacy sites completes the strategic repositioning of Howard Group’s property portfolio. Over the next five years, it will concentrate its efforts on securing larger and geographically targeted quality investments and development opportunities in Cambridge, the wider region and down into London.
Simon Messervy, property services director at Howard Group, said: “The sale of our remaining assets at the Werrington Centre signals the successful delivery of a key part of our strategy to dispose of non-core assets to release capital to redeploy elsewhere.”
Over the past two years Howard Group has radically restructured its property portfolio and significantly enhanced its profile in the region. The move into prime residential with the acquisition of Spillers Mill at Cambridge Station, and the joint venture with Osborne at Mount Pleasant House to build 277 student rooms for St Edmund’s College, Cambridge are key elements of their growth strategy and further extends the Group’s activities.