Birmingham's Battery Retail Park sold for £57 million

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Feb 1, 2018

Hammerson has sold Birmingham's Battery Retail Park, which is currently home to fashion brands including Next and TK Maxx, to NFU Mutual for £57.5 million, it announced on Thursday.

The 12,600 sq mt retail park is located in Selly Oak, in the south-west of Birmingham in the affluent suburb near to Edgbaston, Harborne, Moseley and King’s Norton.

It has benefitted from a reconfiguration and the addition of more homeware and fashion brands, with tenants now including Shoezone, Homebase, Sports Direct and Halfords.

The location is also likely to see a revival when a nearby retail development opens this year. Called Selly Oak Shopping Park, the scheme has already secured a host of high street retailers including Superdrug, JD Sports, Wilko, Sainsbury’s and M&S Food.

The shopping destination will be anchored by a 115,000 sq ft Sainsbury’s and a 16,000 sq ft Next store.

David Atkins, CEO of Hammerson, said: "We have successfully reconfigured Battery Retail Park and improved the retail mix. There continues to be good investor demand for relevant retail destinations with solid brands and modern retailer units.

“This transaction is in line with our ongoing disposal strategy which saw the business achieve more than £400 million of disposals in 2017, and provides the opportunity to invest in our development and premium outlet sectors."

The shopping centre owner announced this week that annual footfall at its shopping centres outperformed the market in 2017, but a full calendar of events and leisure activities failed to lift retail sales at its malls, reporting a 1.3% decline on the previous year.