LaSalle Buys 184 KSF Shopping Center in Greater Leeds, UK

By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

Photo: MTaylor848
The inside of the Airedale Centre in Keighley, West Yorkshire

 LaSalle Investment Management, of Chicago, has acquired the Airedale Centre in Keighley, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, for $33.4 million (£22 million), LaSalle announced Monday.

The Airedale Shopping Centre, which dates to 1968, totals 184,000 square feet and 84 retail units and includes a 460-space parking garage. The center is adjacent to Keighley’s central bus station.

Tenants include such national U.K. chains as Next, Boots, WH Smith, Argos, JD Sports, Poundland, Shoe Zone, Costa Coffee, 02, Burton and Thomas Cook.

Keighley (pronounced “KEETH-lee”) is about 10 miles northwest of Bradford and 15 miles west-northwest of Leeds. As of 2009, the Leeds-Bradford Larger Urban Zone had a population of about 2.4 million.

“The Airedale Centre … represents an opportunity to invest in a dominant shopping centre that encompasses the main retail pitch in the centre of the town. Competition is limited and the local catchment is very loyal,” Gavin Ingram, associate director of LaSalle Investment Management, said in the press release. “We are already in discussion with several retailers regarding new lettings within the scheme.”

The acquisition was made at a net initial yield of about 10 percent, according to the release. NIY is a benchmark property yield metric used in the United Kingdom and is the counterpart of the U.S. nominal cap rate, though calculated somewhat differently, according to a report from Green Street Advisors.