THE Coliseum Leisure Park in Cheshire Oaks has been bought for £81m by the Queen.
The Crown Estate announced last Wednesday that it had completed the purchase of the shopping park.
The property that The Crown Estate manages is owned by the Crown, but is not the private property of Her Majesty.
The £8bn property business acquired the shopping park from a client of Schroders Property Investment Management for £81m.
The 145,000 sq ft shopping park includes the Cineworld cinema, clothes stores such as Next and H&M, Currys, First Choice and Mamas and Papas as well as Pizza Hut, Costa Coffee, Burger King and Liverpool FC’s Boot Room restaurant.
Hannah Milne, The Crown Estate’s regional portfolio manager said: “Coliseum Shopping Park represented a fantastic opportunity to add a well located scheme with an excellent tenant base to our portfolio.
“As an organisation with significant experience in regional retail, our skills in the sector make us perfectly placed to ensure the park continues to fulfil the needs of retailers and presents an attractive offer to shoppers.”
With a £1.6bn portfolio of regional retail assets, which includes 15 retail parks and three shopping centres, The Crown Estate has experience of running similar ventures.
Councillor for Ellesmere Port Town Justin Madders said: “In the current economic climate this is a sign of confidence in Ellesmere Port and the continuing regional pull of the site. I look forward to hearing from the Crown Estates in due course to hear their plans.”
The purchase of the shopping park is part of The Crown Estate’s strategy to invest in its core sectors, offshore wind, central London property, rural land and prime regional retail.
In the last year, The Crown Estate has added 450,000 sq ft of retail and leisure space to its regional portfolio. Its last investment saw it invest £60 million to purchase The Gate in Newcastle in September 2012.
