Buttermarket centre sold

IPSWICH'S Buttermarket Shopping Centre has been sold in a deal worth more than £50million, The Evening Star can today reveal.

The UK Property Fund arm of international firm UBS Wealth Management purchased the town centre complex for £50.5million from Prime Commercial Properties.

It is understood the deal was sealed late last week and the new managing agents, EFM, are this week working with the centre's management to ensure a smooth transfer.

The deal leaves Prime Commercial Properties with only one UK shopping centre in its portfolio. The company, which is understood to be concentrating on its operations in Germany, previously owned shopping centres in locations ranging from Wigan to Cardiff and Newmarket.

Buttermarket centre manager Colin Roberts said he was “sorry to lose” Prime Commercial Properties as the owners of the centre because they had invested heavily in improving it but added that UBS had significant spending power.

He said: “Prime Commercial Properties had bought quite a lot of UK shopping centres over the last five or six years and have worked very hard to improve the value of them.

“They have worked tirelessly and put money into it in a lot of ways.”

The sale is a significant turnaround in fortunes for the Buttermarket, which was built in 1992, after it was left without an anchor tenant for several months after the collapse of department store chain Allders.

TJ Hughes has since moved in to fill the space left by Allders and the UBS purchase suggests the company is confident of the centre's future.

Other tenants include TK Maxx, New Look, Starbucks and MK One.

Mr Roberts said Prime Commercial Properties had not been looking to sell the centre but was presented with an attractive offer.

“They didn't actually put the centre up for sale. Somebody came along and offered a lot of money for it,” he said.

Weblink: www.ubs.com; www.buttermarketipswich.com