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Martin Property Group to take over 100 NCP car park leases
The collapsed car parking operator NCP entered administration in March after unsecured creditors, including landlords, topped £200M.
Martin Property Group, a private property group based in Northern Ireland with about £1B in assets, is in advanced talks to take over roughly 100 leases tied to NCP car parks, according to Sky News via Bisnow. The plan centers on taking control of the sites' lease obligations and operations, rather than purchasing the properties outright.
NCP went into administration in March, citing unsecured creditors including landlords with claims exceeding £200M. Bisnow notes that NCP had been facing steadily declining revenue, linked to fewer people driving into city centres over recent years.
Under the agreement with PwC, Martin Property would step in to run about 100 car park sites. The business also would be making a major expansion into a sector that has been pressured by changing driving habits, despite Martin Property already having a private equity arm that owns MPG Parking.
The company faces the same structural challenge that weighed on NCP, namely long leases with fixed payments that limited flexibility when income fell. Earlier this year, one of NCP's largest landlords, Lysara, terminated leases covering 30 car parks and transitioned operations to Q-Park and Apex, Bisnow reported.