Singapore’s CDL Acquires St Katharine Docks For £395m
UNITED KINGDOM – Singapore-based real estate developer City Developments Ltd (CDL) has concluded the purchase of St Katharine Docks, a mixed-use estate in Central London, from funds advised by Blackstone for £395 million or £751 psf based on its net leasable area (NLA), reported The Edge on Thursday afternoon (9 March, SGT)
The 23-acre freehold estate opened in 1828. It contains 500,000 sq ft of Grade A office space, retail, F&B, and residential units across 4 primary buildings and supporting ancillary spaces, including a marina with 185 berths.
The estate faces the River Thames and neighbours London landmarks, such as Tower Bridge and the Tower of London
St Katharine Docks’ office component has an occupancy level of 90 percent and generates about 92 percent of the estate’s income. Occupants come from various industries, such as shipping, education, consulting, and coworking spaces.
The commercial property has an overall weighted average unexpired lease term (WAULT) of 8.2 years to lease breaks and 9.4 years to lease expiries. Aside from that, CDL shared that it has also identified robust potential in the estate for positive rental reversion & asset management opportunities to increase value.
CDL’s Group Chief Executive Sherman Kwek stated that the purchase of St Katharine Docks boosted the combined value of its commercial properties in the United Kingdom to about £1 billion and will improve the property developer’s recurring income stream.
“It complements our fund management strategy, providing us with the option to inject our UK assets into listed or unlisted platforms at an opportune time,” he added.
CDL’s other commercial assets in the UK comprise two Grade A office buildings in Central London that it bought in 2018, namely Aldgate House and 125 Old Broad Street.
