Energis House on Forbury Road in Reading has been sold, in one of the town’s largest office investment deals of the year so far.
In a £22.6m deal, SWIP (Scottish Widows Investment Partnership) has sold the 108,000 sq ft office building, which sits on a development site totalling 3.47 acres, to PRUPIM. The property, which is let to Cable & Wireless until July 2015, is adjacent to One Reading Central and has the future development potential of Two and Three Reading Central – a scheme which would total 370,000 sq ft of office space.
SWIP was represented in the transaction by national commercial property consultancy, Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH), and PRUPIM was represented by CBRE.
Carolyn Clark of CBRE’s Business Space Capital Markets team said: “This acquisition represents one of the largest transactions in the South East office market in 2012. It provides a good running yield on the existing investment as well as strong future development potential in Reading town centre.”
Nick Coote, Head of LSH’s Thames Valley team, commented: “This is a significant investment deal for Reading and the wider Thames Valley office market. PRUPIM has recognised the strength of the existing Reading Central scheme, and – with Two and Three Reading Central in the pipeline – the development’s potential to create an aspirational business district for the region.”
