Beaconsfield-based Sorbon Estates has acquired St Martin’s Centre in Caversham for around £16 million.

The 1969-built shopping centre, which has been refurbished with new cladding, shopfronts, signage, paving, seating and lighting in recent years, was bought from Federated Hermes.

The centre has 92,000 sq ft of commercial accommodation including 19 shops and is anchored by a 40,000 sq ft Waitrose and a 13,000 sq ft Iceland, which together, account for around 50 per cent of the income.

Other notable tenants include Costa Coffee, Boots and Superdrug, alongside local occupiers which include longstanding picture-framing and household goods store Terry’s, vegan restaurant Vegivores and The Caversham Butcher.

The four-acre site includes a 254-space car park and Caversham Health Club as well as 10 flats and one office suite. In total the centre produces an annual net income of around £1.3m.

Further development, which was approved in 2015 but not implemented, includes an extension to the Waitrose store and adding 7,000 sq ft of ground floor retail / restaurant space to the centre, along with a cinema, decking of the car park and a further 40 apartments.

Rob Dales, partner of KLM Real Estate, which advised the vendor, said: “The pricing and level of interest achieved on this sale shows that the shopping centre market continues to improve.

“This is especially true for South East food anchored centres where the rents have been re-based and there is a strong tenant trading story.”

Lunson Mitchenall acted for the purchaser, Sorbon Estates.

Image: Google

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