Axis Retail Partners and Generali buy St Georges Shopping Center

The shopping center, in the Greater London town of Harrow, was refurbished in 2015 and sits at the end of the bustling high street, with a 3-minute walk from Harrow on the Hill station and a 20-minute journey to Central London. St Georges has 2,314,240 sq m of convenience and value retail, with leisure and F&B anchors across more than 30 units on two retail levels and three levels of parking above (>650 parking spaces).  

Occupiers include TK Maxx, Boots, Deichmann, Wilkos, Nandos, Tortilla, Pizza Express and a 12-screen Vue cinema who have recently undertaken a full refit. The scheme is now fully let following several new lettings that have recently completed including H&M, Puttstars, Haute Dolce and Trespass, and holds a “Very Good” BREEAM In Use rating.  

Toby Smith, Axis Co-Founder and CIO, says: “We have been active in the UK market for almost 2 years and believe that now is the right time to start investing as the market starts to recover from COVID, which continues to be the ultimate stress test to the sector. We are focusing on assets which are relevant retail destinations and that have a demonstrated track record of strong performance, a rebased rental level and offer an attractive income yield to our clients.” 

Robert Jewell, Axis UK Managing Director, adds: “I have joined Axis at this exciting juncture as I am convinced we are at a turning point in the market which is shifting towards a Continental European model where relationships with our tenants will be more transparent and we will manage on the basis of the actual performance of retailers at our centers.”

Darren Robinson, Senior Fund Manager at LaSalle Global Partner Solutions, commented: “The high leisure and food and beverage components put the center in a strong position to benefit from an increase in social activity over time, though of course we don’t expect that recovery to be linear in the very near term. We are very pleased to be working with the Axis Retail team again.”