Latest News

Hines have agreed a 4 year lease extension to Menkind Ltd.
Hines were represented by EYCO.

Hines have agreed a 5 year lease extension to TUI UK Retail Ltd.
Hines were represented by EYCO. The tenant was represented by John Duffy, Colliers.

Hines have agreed a 10 year lease extension to Sally Salon Services Ltd.
Hines were represented by EYCO. The tenant was represented by Bob Fisher, Colliers.

New River Retail have agreed a 5 year lease extension to Greggs plc.
New River Retail were represented by EYCO. The tenant was represented by Ross Allardice, HAS.

Buccleuch Property have acquired a prime retail investment in the heart of Glasgow City Centre. The vendor, Aegon, recently agreed a new, long lease over 120 Buchanan Street to luxury watch brand retailer Laing’s at a rebased market rent. Buccleuch Property were attracted to the unit because of the long secure income stream and good potential for rental growth in the medium to long term.

Phil Eves of Buccleuch Property said “We are constantly reviewing all sectors of the UK property market to seek out what we believe will provide good quality, sustainable income with the potential for growth. Buchanan Street offers the best retailing location in Scotland and consistently outperforms many of the key UK High streets in terms of attracting the best retailers. We believe recent strong letting activity on the street shows it has already bounced back and will continue to benefit from the large catchment area and wider regeneration projects ongoing in Glasgow city centre.”

The agreed sale price of £4,700,000 reflects a stabilised net income yield of 5.8%.

EYCO acted for the purchaser Buccleuch Property and Savills advised the vendor, Aegon.

It’s a new financial year and as ever there is renewed interest in business rates. Rate poundage / multipliers have increased 1.6% and COVID relief for retail, hospitality and leisure is effectively ceasing.

The next Rates Revaluation will take place on 1 April 2023. This mean changes to current rateable values (which determine bills) effective from that date which will reflect today’s rental values.

The Scottish Government are projecting a 15% increase in rates revenue in 2023/24 versus 2022/23.

Rules on empty property relief will be devolved to local councils on 1 April 2023. If you benefit from and rely on that relief now, you should look closely at your budgets for next year. It will be subject to local discretion.

At the revaluation retail rates assessments should, as a generality, decline from current levels. Our evidence in various Scottish shopping centres suggests that the decline in those could range from 20% to 60%, perhaps more. We are currently working with the Assessor on the valuation of a number of schemes. Foodstores and retail parks demonstrate mixed outcomes. It is also difficult to see anything other than an overall value decline in licensed / hospitality.

It will be very interesting to see if the value changes in other categories support this budgeted 15% increase in overall revenue OR if the rate poundage could be subject to upward pressure. Perhaps it will be a bit of both. It certainly looks as though the pressures could mount on the property costs of the industrial, distribution and office sectors.

More info here

Commercial real estate investment backed by long, secure income continues to be in strong demand here in Scotland.

This theme was continued today with the successful sale of a 100,000 sq ft David Lloyd Club in Hamilton where EYCO acted on behalf of CBRE Investment Management, having also advised on the acquisition in 2018. With 24 years unexpired on the lease and also subject to annual index linked uplifts, we were able to generate strong interest and pricing from investors. Congratulations to David Fraser and his client LXI.

Thank you to both of our fantastic clients for their continued, long term commitment to EYCO.

We are delighted to have just completed the investment sale of this prime block of retail in St Andrews. Great to see High Street #propertyinvestment coming back onto the radar for a wide range of investors.

On behalf of CBRE Investment Management we acquired a block of prime retail units in 2014 and were subsequently retained to advise on rent reviews and lease renewals. In Q4 2021, as the fund reached maturity, we were instructed to sell the investment. Based on our local market knowledge, we were able to target 8 parties who we identified as being the most likely buyers. Five offers were received at a closing date and after a second round of competitive bidding, a sale was swiftly completed to Thistle Property Group in March 2022 for substantially in excess of the asking price.

Thanks again to our clients CBRE Investment Management – Matt Beevor and Alice Pargeter – and well done to Elliot Cassels and Mark Fleming who acted jointly for the purchaser.

Great opportunity for a year out student or graduate looking to gain experience in the property industry. The role is based in EYCO’s Glasgow office and will be mainly supporting the development team.

Contact Louise McKenna if you require further information or apply using the link below.

Updating our staff photographs has been long overdue, but it has been worth the wait. Some of the subjects probably took a bit more editing than others… so thank you to Nate Cleary, Commercial Fashion/ Event/ RE Photographer for his patience and some great work!

Brookfield Properties has agreed a lease renewal for a term of 5 years from 11 July 2022 at rent of £190,000 pa at Unit 16, Central Retail Park, Falkirk.
The unit extends to 10,000 sq ft GIA.
Brookfield Properties was represented jointly by Stockford Anderson and EYCO.

Hercules Unit Trust (Capital) has agreed a 2 year lease extension on Unit C5, Glasgow Fort with Swarovski UK Limited from 7th March 2022 at a rental of £101,760 pa.
Hercules Unit Trust (Capital) was represented jointly by EYCO & Paradigm.