British Land snaps up three Wembley warehouses for £157m

Real estate investment trust British Land has acquired three warehouses in Wembley for £157.0m, bringing its urban logistics development pipeline to over £1.0bn.

British Land said on Wednesday that the assets represented "a development-led opportunity", which it stated aligns with its strategy of delivering new urban logistics space through the intensification and repurposing of existing buildings.

The FTSE 100-listed firm stated the North London warehouses, which comprise over 245,000 square foot on a 12.5 acre site, generate an annual income of £3.6m, with significant reversion

British Land also highlighted that the site was "well located within the M25", just outside the North Circular, providing an "excellent", medium-term opportunity to deliver a multi-storey, urban logistics hub for Central and West London, where supply was highly constrained.

Completion was expected to take place by mid-February.

Chief executive Simon Carter said: "This acquisition is another example of the strong progress we are making against our strategy to address the chronic shortage of urban logistics space in central London via intensification and repurposing.

"This latest acquisition follows acquisitions in Enfield to the north of London, Thurrock to the east and Finsbury Square in the city, and along with opportunities we have identified on our standing portfolio, brings the total gross development value of our urban logistics pipeline to over £1.0bn, with a blended forecast internal rate of return from acquisition of circa 15% across the pipeline."