Wisbech Gateway occupies a dual-aspect site with 275 meters of frontage on the A47 (17,742 daily traffic count). The strategy involves acquiring the site with enacted planning consent, enhancing planning permissions for a retail-led hybrid scheme, delivering modular shell units, and leasing them under 15–30 year FRI leases to national covenants. On completion, the fully let scheme will be sold to long-income institutional buyers.
The scheme's project economics demonstrate strong metrics:
- Gross Development Value (GDV): Target NDV/GDV of £22.2 million to £25.0 million upon completion.
- Headline Rental Income: Projected fully let headline rent of £1.34 million to £1.50 million p.a..
- Development Margin: Pre-finance developer's profit on cost projected at 36.2% (£5.9 million profit on £16.3 million total project cost).
Key Market Drivers
- Contractual Accrued Return & Profit Share: Offers an 8% p.a. accrued coupon (or 10% target annual yield) plus a 15% share of project profits upon sale.
- National Tenant Line-up: Anchored by agreements/negotiations with Aldi (20-yr lease), EG On The Move (30-yr ground lease), Burger King (20-yr lease), The Range, Taco Bell, and InstaVolt.
- De-Risked Planning & Delivery: Site acquired with existing enacted consent and pre-app support; utilizes pre-designed modular construction to minimize site timeline risks.
- Institutional Exit Demand: High demand from pension funds and institutional investors for long-dated, inflation-linked roadside income assets.
