Eaden Lilley Sale

Rising property values encourage department store sale.

The recent sale of the Eaden Lilley Department Store has further served to highlight the increasing pressure placed on independent retailers by inflated property values. Redmayne Arnold & Harris represented Eaden Lilley throughout the detailed negotiations with the purchaser, a joint venture between Frame Investments and Portfolio Holdings Ltd.

Eaden Lilley are the latest in a long list of independent retailers who have been continuously courted by national retailers, developers and investors alike. Other recent examples in Cambridge include Joshua Taylor, Bodgers and Heffers. Whilst the Department Store traded reasonably successfully the level of the financial proposals provided the directors and shareholders with increasingly difficult decisions. The property was sold for an undisclosed sum to the developers who will now be pursuing a planning permission to refurbish the property for occupation by Borders UK who will open a 40,000 sq.ft. Borders Book Music Café Superstore. The letting to Borders is reported to be at a record Zone A rent for Cambridge of close to £200. This reflects the demand from national retailers for the traditional City Centre as well as the Grafton Centre where rents have more than doubled since the opening of the new Grafton 2 extension.