Legal & General Property has bought a proposed Waitrose supermarket at a Galliard Homes scheme in Greenwich.

The fund manager, acting on behalf of its UK Property Unit Trust and advised by Tudor Toone, has bought the 999-year lease for the Waitrose site in order to forward fund development of the supermarket.

Waitrose has pre-let the development, which will total 31,126 sq ft, on a 25-year lease. It will pay an annual rent of £825,000.

It is estimated the development will have an end value of £15.6m.

Matt Jarvis, fund manager at Legal & General Property, said: “With forward funding deals forming a growing part of our investment focus, given the widening development finance gap, this represents yet another great opportunity for Legal & General to access a prime located, south east based development scheme let to one of the UK’s strongest covenants. 

“Benefitting from the regeneration of the Greenwich peninsula this site presents an excellent chance to invest in a densely populated area with good transport links and substantial residential accommodation under construction.

“The long term nature of the lease to Waitrose, alongside the fixed uplifts and strong covenant, will provide the Fund with an excellent core asset.”

Construction is underway on the property, which forms a part of Galliard’s New Capital Quay scheme - a development of 980 private and affordable apartments.