Warwickshire based IM Properties has invested more than
£12 million in the forward purchase and development funding
of a Chicago supermarket.
Working in partnership with Chicago based Bradford Real Estate
Services, IM Properties has forward funded the development of the
71,248 sq ft supermarket in Vernon Hills, Chicago.
The company has secured a 20 year lease of the property to
Roundy's Supermarket's Incorporated at an annual rent in excess of
£1 million. A successful grocery brand headquartered in
Wisconsin, Roundy's operates under five retail banners, with the IM
Properties supermarket trading as a Mariano's Fresh Market.
The Supermarket is positioned on a prime site in the affluent
Chicago commuter belt and is the second in a programmed expansion
into Chicago by Roundy's.
IM Properties managing director Tim Wooldridge is delighted to
be expanding the company's US portfolio with this latest deal:
"US based developers were struggling to secure funding from
their banks and we recognised an opportunity to expand IM
Properties' portfolio in the US by forward funding retail
developments such as this. We have a member of the IM Properties
team based full time in America and this has worked extremely well
in helping us to secure this deal and build a close relationship
with our tenant and development partner.
"Such has been the success of this first supermarket, that we
are already progressing another property for Roundy's in the nearby
Palatine district of Chicago, once again with developer Bradford
Real Estate Services."
Focussing on the retail sector, IM Properties entered the US
market in December 2007 with the purchase of a 135,000 sq ft retail
store in Newport News, Virginia which is master-leased to Best Buy.
This is a strategically located property at the heart of the 4.4m
sq ft Patrick Henry Trade Area and the 'Bond style' Master-lease is
a very rare commodity. The company subsequently built a portfolio
of bank ground leases in Illinois and Virginia. Concentrating on
the strongest names in the US banking market, it actively sought
value in banks at the height of the banking crisis.
IM Properties will continue to fund retail developments in
Chicago and will retain the end product within its US portfolio.
The company currently owns property valued at £50 million in
the US and is focussed on strengthening this asset base with a
target to increase the portfolio beyond £100 million in the
medium term.
Established in 1987, IM Properties Plc is one of the UK's
largest privately owned property groups with close to £1bn of
property owned and under management within the UK, France, Germany
and USA, the company's land bank is in excess of 300 acres.
IM Properties is well known for its consistent deliverability
and the quality of its developments. This deliverability is
reinforced by the fact that all developments are financed from
existing cash resources.