by Jane Roberts
IBM has selected Royal Mail Property Holdings as the preferred bidder for 10.5ha (26 acres) of surplus land it owns at Greenford, on the A40 in west London.
Royal Mail has two large requirements for west London: the first is for a 23,225m2 (250,000 sq ft) automatic processing centre, one of a chain it is developing around the country. The other is for Royal Mail International which needs a similar-sized building, within range of Heathrow airport.
The search for the right site or sites has been going on for over a year.
Fiona Bradley of Royal Mail’s property team said that a West London site had been found, but refused to identify it.
She said heads of terms were being discussed which were likely to lead to Royal Mail buying the land freehold rather than working with a developer and taking a lease. Taylor Wells is advising.
Chris Palmer, industrial partner at Grimley which is advising IBM, said: “We have selected a preferred bidder who is an end user.”
Underbidders at IBM’s site believe Royal Mail must have bid at least £1.36m-£1.48m per ha (£550,000-£600,000 per acre).
Other sites Royal Mail has considered include Salmon Developments’ schemes at Greenford Park and Bullsbridge in Hayes; Thorn EMI’s Dawley Road in Hayes, and British Land’s Feltham Goodsyard.
Royal Mail International was known to be keen on Lynton’s site at Heathrow, which was snapped up recently by Plane Handling.
At Grimley, Paul Jenkins, the partner who was handling the deal, has resigned to join west London developer Park Royal Estates.
Last year, Jenkins sold 4ha (10 acres) at the front of IBM’s Greenford site to Sears. An 11,148m2 (120,000 sq ft) retail scheme is under construction, and Sears is thought to have been offered twice the price it paid to sell.
