17,846 sq ft: Circle Business Centre, Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire — freehold sale

Circle Business Centre in Houghton Regis, near Dunstable, is a gated courtyard development of five light industrial hybrid units. BTG Eddisons acted on behalf of private investors to dispose of the freehold interest in four of these units, totalling 17,846 sq ft. Unit one offers high-specification office space with meeting rooms and staff facilities, while units two, three and five provide industrial storage and distribution space with full mezzanines and ancillary offices.

The sale was complicated by an existing tenant occupying the units, so BTG Eddisons first negotiated a surrender with the outgoing occupier to clear the way for a freehold vacant possession sale. The team then advised on the surrender premium and provided guidance on market value before taking the property to market.

"Opportunities to acquire freehold industrial space as good as this are relatively rare and we were confident that we would be able to secure an excellent deal on behalf of our client," said Eamon Kennedy, Director, Industrial and Logistics at BTG Eddisons. "This deal once again clearly demonstrates that our knowledge of the regional market is second to none."

A groundworks company acquired the four units on a freehold vacant possession basis for an undisclosed sum, achieving a price in excess of the client's aspirations. The strength of this outcome led the same investors to instruct BTG Eddisons on a further freehold disposal, now under offer, along with a new instruction from a European engineering company to dispose of a 17,000 sq ft premises with a secure yard.