Astral has revived one of the South East’s largest industrial development opportunities, by buying a 264-acre site next to Luton airport.
The industrial specialist paid Hong Kong tycoons the Wang family around £25m for the land, which comprises the 104-acre Century Park and 160 acres of adjacent green belt.
Astral wants to build 1.5m sq ft of warehouses and other buildings to house airport-related services, to be ready for 2007.
The sale should end years of delay at the site and will benefit from plans announced by Luton airport operator TBI last week for a further terminal and replacement runway in time for the 2012 Olympics.
Century Park has had consent for a major industrial and distribution development for over 10 years, but development has foundered on the expense and difficulty of providing access.
A tunnel will have to be built under one of the airport runways to open up the site.
It is thought that strained relations between the Wangs’ property company Chinachem and TBI contributed to the failure to come to an agreement.
The Wangs bought the site for around £16m in 1996, when they were hoping to secure the licence to operate Luton airport.
Sources said TBI was now eager to make progress.
Ruth Tytherley, associate director in CB Richard Ellis’s industrial team, said: “If they have paid £25m for a 104-acre prime industrial site, then that’s great value, whatever the access issues may be.
“It is typical of Astral’s newly defined strategy of landbanking sites that aren’t necessarily oven ready, but which can be turned into hugely valuable schemes.”
Justin Meredith, industrial partner at NAI Fuller Peiser, said: “Astral has taken an opportunity that has been touted for a long time.”
Neither Astral nor its agent Holley Blake were available for comment.
References: EGi News 07/11/05
