City arcades snapped up for £55m

TWO of Cardiff’s historic arcades and the site of the former David Morgan department store have been acquired in a £55m deal.

The Morgan Quarter, which covers the Victorian-built Morgan and Royal arcades and the former department store - which closed in January 2005 after 125 years of trading - has been acquired by Greater Manchester Pension Fund.

The Morgan Quarter, which provides more than 300,000sq ft of retail and office space, has tenants including Molton Brown, Jack Wills and Urban Outfitters.

It is also home to the Creative Quarter, which has tenants including architects HLM and independent television production firm Bad Wolf.

It was acquired for the fund by international real estate company LaSalle Investment Management

The property portfolio has been sold by Helical, which acquired it back in 2005.

After acquiring Morgan Quarter, Helical invested in creating 55 apartments in the former David Morgan’s department store, which were all sold.

Director of Helical, Duncan Walker, said: “This significant sale, at an attractive yield, represents the eight retail assets we have sold since March 2016. In line with our continued repositioning of the portfolio, through value-enhancing disposals, our retail investments now comprise just a small number of retail warehouses.

“Our intention is to recycle the majority of the proceeds of this disposal into our London portfoilio.”