Muir of Ord’s new Co-op sold for more than £1.25 million

Unnamed Scottish investor snaps up property above guide price.

By Keith Findlay

March 30 2023, 6:00 am

The sale comes just a few years after the developer submitted a planning application for the new Co-op. Image: DM Hall

An investor has taken ownership of a recently completed Co-op supermarket in Muir of Ord, Easter Ross.

The unnamed buyer also takes over its 15-year lease.

Located on the south side of Great North Road, close to the junction with Black Isle Road and Seaforth Road, the single storey property is by Stop 2 of the North Coast 500.

The 4,478sq ft unit is on a large site of 0.48 acres that includes 16 customer car parking spaces. It was built to replace an older Co-op.

The high level of interest and achieved pricing we secured in this transaction demonstrates the confidence investors continue to have in the convenience retail sector.”

Stuart Johnston, partner, DM Hall

Glasgow-based commercial property and construction group Dickie & Moore (D&M) sold the whole site to “a Scottish-based private investor”.

Chartered surveyors DM Hall, whose Aberdeen-based commercial property team represented D&M in the deal, said the property changed hands in excess of the guide price.

The new owner will benefit from an annual rent of £70,000, with the lease incorporating five yearly rent reviews in line with the Consumer Price Index.

‘Significant interest’

Stuart Johnston, a partner in the Aberdeen office of DM Hall and head of the firm’s north commercial team, said: “There was significant interest when we first marketed this opportunity at offers over £1.25 million.

“The high level of interest and achieved pricing we secured in this transaction demonstrates the confidence investors continue to have in the convenience retail sector, despite recent interest rate increases and a general softening of yields across the majority of other sub sectors of the investment market”.

Stuart Johnston, of DM Hall. Image: Simon Price

The buyer was represented by Ross Wilson of Graham & Sibbald, chartered surveyors.

D&M applied for full planning approval for a new Co-op in 2020, when the existing store was deemed to be “no longer suitable for a modern retail offer and experience”.

The new store, 750sqft larger and supporting 15 local jobs, opened last November.

Local favourite Harry Gow supplies a bakery range to the new and improved shop, which also boasts self-service checkouts and Amazon lockers for parcel collection.