Livingston’s Almondvale West Retail Park goes on market with £19m price tag

Livingston’s Almondvale West Retail Park has been put on the market for about £19.125 million, with the firm handling the sale noting that such sites have proved the most resilient shopping locations since the pandemic’s onset.

Savills is acting on behalf of an institutional investor regarding the asset, saying it is Livingston’s premier retail park, located next to the Livingston Designer Outlet, and with the guide price reflecting a net initial yield of 7.75 per cent.

The centre spans about 102,200 square feet, providing units that were revamped in 2018, and that are 100 per cent let to a tenant base including Next, TK Maxx, Smyths Toys, Decathlon and Harry Corry. The retail park changed hands in 2014 as part of a £224m deal.

The current total rent passing across the whole scheme, including the car park, is £1.5m a year, which equates to £11.60 per sq ft on the retail warehouse element, Savills added.

The firm also noted that Livingston is a key retail destination in Scotland with 60 per cent of Scotland’s population and 54 per cent of its businesses located within a one-hour travel time.

Nick Penny, head of Savills Scotland and investment director, said: “Almondvale West presents an extremely attractive opportunity to acquire a well-let, strongly performing retail park in a strategic location that secures its ongoing success serving the wide local catchment.”

Jaime Dunster, UK investment director at Savills, added: “Retail parks emerged as the most resilient in the retail sector throughout the Covid-19 pandemic thanks to the less severe decline in footfall, and sales and have consequently become one of the most sought after asset classes in 2022.”