A joint venture being set-up between Lumina Real Estate Capital and Wrenbridge has purchased Reading Bridge, a freehold office investment in Reading.

Reading Bridge, a 115,000 sq ft iconic office building close to Reading Station, has been purchased for £10.85m - equating to £94 per sq ft. The building is partially let to Royal London, Unit 4 Business Software, Throgmorton, and Scisys Ltd.

There is 69,000 sq ft of vacant accommodation, 57,000 sq ft of which will now be refurbished to offer some much-needed grade A stock into the central Reading office market this year.  

Driving value through asset management

Mark Potts of Lumina commented: “The strong property fundamentals and the opportunity to drive value through asset management mean that the investment perfectly fits Lumina Special Situations Fund’s requirements.”

Jeff Wilson of Wrenbridge added: “Reading Bridge offers an exciting opportunity. Reading’s town centre office market is becoming increasingly important, due to the significant infrastructure investment in the railway and station. The station improvements include a new entrance almost opposite Reading Bridge, which opens in March 2013. 

"This, and the prospect of the Western Rail Access to Heathrow (WRAtH) in 2018/20, establishing a direct rail link between Reading Station and Heathrow, will make Reading town centre an even more significant office employment centre.” 

Quality refurbishment to feed office supply chain at critical time

Our Agency and Capital Markets teams advised Lumina and Wrenbridge on the transaction. Nick Coote, Head of our Reading office, added: “The refurbished office space in Reading Bridge has proven to be very popular with occupiers as it ticks all of a tenant’s wish list: quality space, prominent location and low total occupancy cost.  The purchase of the building will bring about the next phase of quality office refurbishment, which will feed the supply chain at a critical time.

"Through our Agency and Capital Markets teams we were able to offer the client the in-depth local knowledge as well as the insight into the broader investment market to bring the deal through to completion."

The property was sold by Edward Symmons on behalf of Law of Property Act Receivers, having been proactively managed by the Asset Management team at Edward Symmons for 18 months.