Shopping Centres
Shopping centres are complex real estate investments which require a detailed understanding of how they operate and evolve in order to maximise their growth and success.
With over 20 shopping centres currently under management and a proven track record established over many years of selling, buying and managing shopping centres, Teacher Stern’s Shopping Centre team not only has the detailed understanding required to assist you but also a depth of experience, know-how and capacity which you would usually only find in significantly larger law firms.
The team has acted on sales and purchases totalling several billion pounds and currently acts for a range of prime and secondary shopping centre owners helping to protect and enhance their assets by way of proactive legal management work.
As yield shifts alone have become insufficient to create value in shopping centre investments, greater reliance has been placed on professional teams (including legal teams) to apply a proactive approach to management that will deliver increased investment growth from this asset class. The combined strength of our Real Estate and Dispute Resolution team members has proven invaluable in successfully tackling the challenges faced by our clients and helping them maximise the value of their investments.
A fundamental ingredient to the added value our team provides is the desire and ability to gel with each shopping centre owner’s team of advisors. It is key that all project team members work closely together and we encourage managing agents, centre managers, letting agents and review/renewal surveyors to regularly engage with us sooner rather than later.
We find site visits and attending management meetings are important in establishing a feel for the centres and good communication between all advisers to be crucial. Whether it be purchases, sales or asset management we concentrate on the more important commercial issues so as to facilitate the desired result for clients in an efficient manner without becoming locked in debates over what experience tells us are lesser issues. We take pride in finding workable solutions to issues rather than creating them and often this involves thinking outside the box rather than sticking to old standard formulas.
The team’s size and experience allows it to punch above its weight handling large and complex transactions often with creative structures, whether they be tax or investment driven as well as offering a comprehensive service on asset management and development work. Senior members of the team take lead roles and remain involved throughout and we work with clients to create the best working relationship structure for each client since each client has different preferences.
Representative Corporate Work
Examples of our shopping centres work include:
- Advised on the £270m sale of a property holding company comprising two shopping centres situated at London Underground stations.
- Advised on the £92m sale of a property holding company comprising a shopping centre situated at one of London’s busiest underground stations.
- Advised on the multi-million refinancing of several shopping centres in the UK.
- Advising on the ongoing management of several shopping centres including a regional shopping centre situated outside of Bristol.
- Advised on the multi-million pound sale of a landmark shopping centre in Reading.
Key contacts:
Biography
Involved in all sectors of property development and investment, Oliver has broad experience in dealing with high-value investment purchases and sales, often by way
of complex tax and funding structures.
He has significant expertise in complex pre-letting transactions, site assembly (both commercial and residential) developments, and establishing limited partnerships
and unit trusts.
Oliver also advises major retailers on store acquisitions and disposal programmes
and administrators on the sale of property assets on insolvency.
Year qualified
Solicitor, 1999
Significant transactions include:
- Purchase of Victoria Place Shopping Centre in London for £92.5 million which included a £257 million portfolio refinance
- £145 million acquisition of a landmark London office building, by way of a Shariah-compliant corporate and funding structure
- Acquired a London shopping centre for £119 million, by way of a sub-sale into a Jersey Unit Trust
- Advised developer in relation to construction of a shopping centre above a London Underground station, dealing with substantial pre-lets and disposal for c.£100 million by way of partnership interest disposal
- Purchase of a London landmark listed building for a residential developer to convert to 100 luxury flats
- Engineered the smooth entry into the UK of a major French retailer
- Advised a major developer on a mixed-use retail and residential scheme in Cardiff
- Advised healthcare company in taking a substantial lease of a hospital
