Maxim Office Park sold in Â£38m deal

Maxim Park comprises 756,000 sq ft of office space across ten buildings. Picture: contributed

Property investor Shelborn Asset Management has purchased the out-of-town site on behalf of offshore clients from an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management.

Maxim, which Shelborn hailed as the top destination of its kind outside Glasgow, is part of the Eurocentral industrial estate. It comprises 756,000 square feet of offices across ten buildings arranged around a central landscaped zone, with a further nine acres of development land.

The development counts the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), flexible workspace giant Regus, infrastructure group Balfour Beatty and life sciences firm Lamellar Biomedical among its tenants.

Brian Rabinowitz, director at Shelborn Asset Management, said: “We are excited to be involved in Maxim Park and see it as the number one destination for any occupiers looking outside Glasgow.

“We acquired the property for offshore investors and this continues our strategy of pursuing opportunities that offer the potential of added value.

“The park presents extremely well and there are many existing happy tenants, so we look forward to securing further letting success over the next few years.”

Shelborn also acquired a 65,000 sq ft office space in Dundee’s Charles Street that is fully let to HMRC, for £5m in April.

Rabinowitz added: “This is our second acquisition in Scotland this year, following the purchase of Caledonian House in Dundee. We believe the Scotland office market offers good opportunities at the moment, with the potential for further growth and development.”

John Rae, head of Knight Frank Glasgow, which acted for Shelborn during the deal, said: “Maxim offers a fantastic environment for office occupiers and by building on the recent letting activity we are confident that it will cement its position as the premier out-of-town office destination in Scotland’s Central Belt.”

David Davidson, partner at Cushman & Wakefield that acted on behalf of Cerberus, said: “The improvements to the M8 motorway that completed in December last year have transformed the letting prospects for Maxim, so we were confident that new investors to the market would see the upside potential in this investment.”

The deal follows figures revealed earlier this month showing a record third quarter for Glasgow office property deals, which saw total take-up reach 614,466 sq ft between July and September. Notable deals included Barclays taking a 470,000 sq ft pre-let at Buchanan Wharf.

Commercial property consultancy JLL said Glasgow’s office market was “proving itself to be a desirable location for business to operate”.

Alistair Reid, director at JLL, said: “With total take-up already exceeding one million square feet, we anticipate that 2018 will be the best year for office take-up in Glasgow in recorded history. It’s inevitable that this demand will continue to impact supply, but with three new speculative developments in the offing, there is at least a pipeline of new build supply further down the line.”