Aprirose, the UK-based real estate investment company, has completed the sale of the Travelodge Hotel at Tower Bridge for £47.1 million to CCLA Investment Management on behalf of Local Authorities Mutual Investment Trust. The sale represents a net initial yield of 3.61%.
The hotel comprises 190 bedrooms arranged over five floors, a café and bar. Travelodge has completed the refurbishment works of 71 bedrooms to create SuperRooms.
Manish Gudka, CEO at Aprirose, said: “The sale of this property represents a strong return for our investors in line with our original strategy at the time of purchase of investing in a fast-improving area of London. The asset, which we bought during a time of economic instability, provides secure income in a prime location and is a well-respected brand. We continue to seek out further opportunities as we look to expand our diverse real estate portfolio across all asset classes.”
Mark Bruce-Lockhart, Director at Philips Lockhart, said “The hotel market is very buoyant at the moment and an asset of this calibre in such a good location is hard to come by. We are pleased to have facilitated this sale for Aprirose. The sale of this asset is the epitome of the strong position of the hotel market, helped by the weakness of sterling which is encouraging increased tourism and investment into the UK, and we expect confidence to remain high in this sector.”
The property is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in the heart of the EC3 insurance and shipping district, in close proximity to the City and locations such as Tower Bridge and St Katharine Docks.
The sale of the Travelodge Hotel comes after a spate of recent acquisitions including the 73 asset M&B Pub portfolio, and the QHotels portfolio for £525 million. Aprirose now has 6,559 beds in its portfolio.
Aprirose was represented by Philips Lockhart and Knight Frank. CCLA were represented by Chris Freer-Smith Limited and hotel specialists J D Partners.
