Worthing shopping centre sold at auction – above the asking price
Worthing's main indoor shopping centre has been sold at auction at a figure above the guide price.
Savills had The Guildbourne Centre listed for auction on Tuesday, July 14, at 9am. It finally went under the hammer at 2.30pm.
The lot was described as a 'long leasehold town centre shopping centre and office investment let to B&M Retail and Pembroke Financial Services with 33,912 sq ft vacant'.
Bidding started at £1.5million and the auctioneer said there were a number of interested investors 'hovering'. He described it as a 'nice opportunity, great property'.
Several bids were made before the hammer went down at £1,620,000.
The Guildbourne Centre links the High Street multi-storey car park to the town centre and contains a mix of shops and meeting rooms.
The leasehold property is held for a term of 150 years from March 1972, when it was first built. It includes ground-floor retail units around an enclosed mall, a six-storey office building with independent access and residential accommodation in two separate blocks above.
Sale information included: “The Guildbourne Centre comprises a substantial and well established mixed use town centre scheme prominently positioned in Worthing, bounded by Ann Street and Chatsworth Road and immediately adjoining the town’s principal retail and commercial areas.
“The property includes a covered shopping centre providing approximately 20 ground-floor retail units, arranged around an enclosed mall and anchored by larger format occupiers alongside a range of local and service led uses.
“Above the retail accommodation is a six-storey office building with its own independent access, historically occupied by a single major tenant and capable of refurbishment or reconfiguration as required.
“In addition, the scheme incorporates residential accommodation arranged in two separate blocks above, creating a genuine mixed use environment. The property occupies a strategic position close to Montague Street, the seafront and Worthing railway station, and represents one of the town’s principal retail and office complexes by scale.”