Zak Brown happy as McLaren sells F1 factory for $240m

McLaren has sold its iconic headquarters, including the Formula 1 factory, for almost $240 million.

A New York-based real estate investment company called Global Net Lease announced the deal earlier this week, revealing that it will acquire the full Woking facility and enter a "20-year, NNN lease".

A so-called ’triple-net’ lease means the tenant - in this case to be McLaren - no longer owns the property but pays for all of the expenses.

"Why should we have all of our money in real estate?" Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport quotes McLaren supremo Zak Brown as saying.

"We are not a real estate company - we are a racing team and automotive company. There is a lot of money in this building and it’s not a productive advantage when we want to invest in our business," he added.

Initiated by Ron Dennis in 1998, the award-winning McLaren Technology Centre was originally called ’Paragon’ and designed by renowned architect Norman Foster.

"We look forward to the long-term partnership with McLaren and the benefits this transaction will have to Global Net Lease," said the New York-based company’s chief executive James Nelson.