Investment Examples

Mitcham

London, United Kingdom

In January 2019, RSF acquired a dated 153,000 square foot industrial park in Mitcham, London. The original business plan was to demolish the building and develop a new 80,000 square foot class A building for one of the world’s largest industrial tenants, but the local city council denied the proposed development citing its low density. While evaluating other tenant and design prospects in early 2021 an institutional industrial owner approached RSF about acquiring the property off-market in a transaction that resulted in sale proceeds equivalent to the expected future proceeds if RSF developed, leased, and then sold the property in 2025.

The sale reflected recent trends in London including strong tenant demand and the scarcity of developable industrial land. At the time of the sale, London had added only 380,000 square feet of new supply in the last two years on a 208 million square foot base. As a reference point, new industrial supply additions in the U.S. over the same period include: DFW – 61 million square feet, Atlanta – 32 million square feet, Phoenix – 25 million square feet and Denver – 10 million square feet.