Discount fashion retailer TK Maxx has signed for a 650,000 sq ft design-and-build distribution centre to service its north of England operations.
Caddick Developments, in partnership with Wakefield council, won the expanded requirement by rapidly assembling a 35-acre parcel of land at the junction of the M62 and A1 in Yorkshire from a consortium of local landowners on a site known as Ferrybridge.
Parent company TJX Europe selected Caddick’s scheme ahead of three shortlisted options. It will take a 20-year lease.
Rents in the region are around £4.50 per sq ft.
A planning application is expected to be lodged in the next two weeks, in what would be the largest shed deal signed in Yorkshire since The Range took 750,000 sq ft at Nimbus Park in Doncaster in 2012.
The development is expected to be funded via a forward sale.
TK Maxx currently supplies its northern shops from a 250,000 sq ft facility in Wakefield, which it has outgrown.
The retailer launched a design-and-build requirement in March 2014 after finding a lack of suitable supply in its target Yorkshire market.
It was originally seeking around 500,000 sq ft but opted for a larger scheme as the outlook for consumer spending has improved over the past year.
A source said: “TK Maxx had to look a little further afield than originally planned. It became a slightly political decision, which gave Caddick just enough time to swoop in with its land offering.”
TK Maxx also operates distribution centres in Stoke, Staffordshire, and Walsall, West Midlands.
SBH advised TK Maxx; Caddick was unrepresented.
