Henderson Park, the private equity real estate firm headquartered in London, announces that it has exchanged contracts for the acquisition of a 136-acre tri-modal logistics development site in Yorkshire, U.K., in an off-market transaction from Harworth Group plc for £54 million. This acquisition has been undertaken with Cole Waterhouse, a leading UK real estate developer who is managing the acquisition execution, development and leasing of the site.
The site is 20 kilometres from Leeds and has outline planning consent for 1.4 million sq ft of prime logistics space. Seven units are expected to be developed ranging in size from 40,000 to 735,000 sq ft, with single ownership of the site offering the rare opportunity to design and create a strategic estate that will appeal to a mix of tenants across a broad range of sectors.
The site has already been prepared for development and work is due to commence in April 2022, with the first units ready for occupation by spring 2023. Once operational, the asset will deliver significant new supply of much needed state-of-the-art, energy efficient warehouse space in a structurally undersupplied market with strong occupational fundamentals. Yorkshire and the North East currently has a logistics vacancy rate of sub 3% as a result of limited consented land availability and record take up by tenants.
Located on the site of a former colliery near Wakefield, the development is strategically located at the nexus of key transport infrastructure and will be the country’s only inland distribution park offering tri-modal connectivity to the U.K. and continental Europe via road, water or rail. The U.K.’s four major container ports are all within a four hour drive via the M62 and A1 (M) motorways, and the site offers direct access to the Strategic Freight Network with sidings that caters for trains up to 640 metres long. Immediate onsite access to the Aire & Calder canal waterway unlocks potential freight links to the Leeds and Humber ports.
Source : Henderson Park