Johnsons Cars Volkswagen showroom sold for £15 million

Johnsons Cars’ Solihull Volkswagen showroom site has been sold for £15 million after being identified as a “none-core asset” by its new owner.

Real estate investor LondonMetric took ownership of the site, on Highlands Rd, Shirley, Solihull, when it acquired the Savills IM Fund in December.

It has now sold the site on and invested part of the proceeds in a Birmingham retail site with “a significantly higher yield”.

LondonMetric said that it had sought to leverage the 17 years remaining on the £800,000-per-year lease after identifying the 52,000sq-ft site as a “non-core asset”.

Chief executive, Andrew Jones, said: “We have taken advantage of the strong appetite for long let income to swiftly dispose of the property at a premium.

“The proceeds of the sale have been reinvested into a better-located property offering a significantly higher yield with material asset management potential.”

LondonMetric has reinvested £8m in purchasing the retail units let to Dunelm and Currys at Middleway, Birmingham.

The 40,000sq-ft site has a weighted average unexpired lease term of two years for £700,000 per annum of rent.

Its rental yield is 7.8%, compared with 4.5% at the car showroom site.