In the current garden centre property market there are not that many straight-forward deals. Many owners are looking at retirement but don’t necessarily want to sell their centre. Structuring a leasehold arrangement is a possible solution, as Gilbert Evans recently demonstrated in leasing Redfields Garden Centre to Blue Diamond.
Redfields Garden Centre, based in Church Crookham, near Fleet, Hampshire has been acquired by Guernsey based Blue Diamond Group in a deal which will see a new 6,000 sq m state of the art garden centre developed on the site over the next few years.
Mike Gilbert of Gilbert Evans advised Redfields throughout the deal – Redfields wanted to retain the freehold, but the site had planning permission to develop a new 60,000 sq ft state-of-the-art centre. “It was complicated but we negotiated a leasehold deal with Blue Diamond, which meant that Redfields would build out a new centre”, commented Mike Gilbert, Partner in charge of Gilbert Evans’ garden centre team, “We agreed a lease of 35 years and the result will be a centre capable of annual turnover of £10m.”
Redfields, former winner of the prestigious GCA Garden Centre of the year award, benefits from one of the most affluent catchments in the UK, one of the factors which attracted Blue Diamond. “Redfields is a very well run centre with massive potential,” commented Alan Roper, MD of Blue Diamond, “and when the redevelopment is complete it will be amongst the UK’s best centres.”
The deal, which involved Blue Diamond entering into a lease, extends Blue Diamond’s garden centre presence in the UK to ten centres with a further two in the Channel Islands.
Malcolm Goater, owner of Redfields, is selling the business so that he can concentrate on other business activities: “We are very pleased that Blue Diamond will be running the garden centre. They are one of the best operators in the country and will move the garden centre forwards.”
If you think Gilbert Evans’ services would benefit your business contact:
Mike Gilbert – mgilbert@gilbertevans.com
Andrew Hamilton – ahamilton@gilbertevans.com