Shaftesbury acquires more shops on Neal Street, anticipating Crossrail

London property developer Shaftesbury has snapped up six buildings on Neal Street near Covent Garden for £24.6m.

Adding to its 14.9 acre portfolio in London's West End, the FTSE 250 group acquired six buildings at the northern third of the popular shopping byway, with current contracted income of £0.6mn per year.

The shops, which cover 5,200 square feet and have sold-off residential accommodation above them, adjoin Shaftesbury's existing holdings and takes its ownership of shop frontage on Neal Street to around 70%.

The company has been having some trouble completing lettings for its larger properties, with last month's trading update revealing 54% of completed space was still not let or under offer across its three larger schemes, though a 22,800 sq ft Thomas Neal's Warehouse redevelopment had come under offer to a single occupier.

Chief executive Brian Bickell called its an "important acquisition".

"Situated close to the Tottenham Court Road Crossrail hub, the northern end of Neal Street is forecast to see material footfall growth once the Elizabeth Line service starts in December 2018.

"Current rental tones on this part of the street are significantly lower than at the southern end. However, with the benefit of growing footfall, together with the careful curation and coherent tenant selection strategy we will implement, we expect to see this differential in rents to narrow significantly over the medium term."

Earlier this month Shaftesbury raised £265m with a placing of ordinary shares at a price of 952p to fund a number of acquisitions, including 72 Broadwick Street for £92m and several smaller, previously-announced acquisitions.