DIY chain Sainsbury’s Homebase is to open one of its largest UK stores at St Paul’s Developments’ 1.8ha (20 acre) Cortonwood Retail Park in the Dearne Valley area of South Yorkshire.
The 14,864 sq ft (160,000 sq ft) garden centre will cost £5.5m to develop and will be one of the retailer’s first new-concept stores, comprising enlarged product ranges across the board.
Joanne Lord, development surveyor at Homebase, said: “We were attracted to the site because it had an existing consent and because it was well located for the north on the M1/A1 link road. It will serve catchments from Rotherham to Barnsley.”
Cortonwood Retail Park is a major land reclamation project backed by the private and public sector. The mixed use development, which includes commercial, leisure, retail, industrial and residential areas, is supported by the Department of the Environment, English Partnerships and Yorkshire Forward.
South Yorkshire based St Paul’s Developments made £3.14m in the year ending 30 June 1999.
David Newton, development manager at St Paul’s, confirmed the company’s development plans, he said: “We’re pursuing a number of both strategic industrial sites and a non food retail site in Sheffield. We’re hoping to bring these brownfield sites forward and are in negotiations to acquire the them for redevelopment.”
EGi News 21/03/00
