In June, Rover Group took a 170,000-sq ft distribution warehouse at Bryant Properties/Development Securities’ Birmingham International Park on a 25-year lease at £850,000 pa. In central Birmingham, NFC Property Services is refurbishing 180,000 sq ft of distribution warehousing for Exel Logistics and BRS at Lawley Street for £3.9m. Terms were agreed in September.
Healey & Baker sold on behalf of Caradon a 195,000-sq ft factory at Whieldon Road, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, in August, to Churchill Hotelware for £550,000 freehold. In June, H&B also sold for Twyfords Bathrooms the freehold of a 73,000-sq ft warehouse at Linley Lane, Alsager in Cheshire, to Cardway Casters for £835,000. Further west, at Stafford Park in Telford, Shropshire, a 56,000-sq ft ex-BT warehouse was taken by Placketts Express Parcels in April for £150,000 on a 15-year lease, with a £1.4m purchase option until April 1995.
In August, Weatherall Green & Smith secured a letting with Security Archives for a 53,000-sq ft archive warehouse, to be constructed at Severn Trent Property’s Midpoint Park, Minworth, West Midlands. Also at Midpoint, German distributor Khne & Nagel signed a lease at the end of 1993 for an existing 110,000-sq ft warehouse on Kingspark Developments’ The Link, at a rent of £4.50 per sq ft. In August, Land Securities and Wilson Connolly, represented by Erdman Lewis, purchased 12 acres at Centurion Park, Tamworth, Staffordshire, from Parcelforce for the development of a 120,000-sq ft high-bay warehouse. The site has capacity for a 170,000-sq ft extension. Also in Tamworth, at Relay Park, Fletcher King sold a 30-acre site at the end of last year on behalf of owner Aquis Estates to Safeway Foodstores for the development of a 400,000-sq ft regional distribution centre.
In Warwickshire, Electrocomponents, advised by Fletcher King, bought 26 acres freehold last month at Bermuda Park, Nuneaton, from Tawnywood. Subsidiary R S Components will move into a 290,000-sq ft distribution warehouse that has expansion potential of 110,000 sq ft. Rumsey & Partners acted for Tawnywood.
Richard Ellis advised Kalmar Climax on the sale in June of a 147,000-sq ft unit at Sandy Lane, Radford, Coventry. Coventry Binders, represented by Connell Wilson, purchased the freehold for £1.9m. At Crosspoint Distribution Park, also in Coventry, Disney took a 20-year lease in March on a 126,000-sq ft warehouse at a rent in the region of £5 per sq ft plus incentives.
Last month, Copper Cable Co prelet a 78,000-sq ft distribution warehouse at Interlink Park, Leicester. The site was purchased from Kingspark Developments by AMP, acting on behalf of Pearl Assurance, for £4.5m. Copper Cable will pay a gross rent of £4.15 per sq ft on a 25-year lease. Two properties were the focus for several deals at Gazeley/Church Commissioners’ Magna Park in Lutterworth, Leicester this summer: BSS took a purpose-built 110,000-sq ft distribution centre for around £4.75 per sq ft on a 25-year lease. The building was subsequently purchased from The Lutterworth Partnership by Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society for just over £7.5m. In a separate transaction, Merck concluded a sale-and-leaseback with Midland Bank Pension Trust.
Merck sold its 182,000-sq ft distribution unit for £12.7m and agreed a rent to MBPT of £4.55 per sq ft. Wincanton Distribution Services moved to Cardinal Distribution Park, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, in October, taking 100,000 sq ft on a 25-year lease at a rent of £4.35 per sq ft. Healey & Baker and Connell Wilson acted on behalf of landlord Vanbrugh Land.
This summer, Tibbet & Britten purchased 10 acres from London & Metropolitan at Bicester Park in Oxfordshire for £4.5m. A 200,000-sq ft automated warehouse is due for completion in June 1995. Earlier in the year, in Warwickshire, Potterton Heating, a subsidiary of Blue Circle, took a 15-year lease on a 106,000-sq ft development at £3.95 per sq ft from Kingspark Developments at Queensway Business Park, Tachbrook Road, Leamington Spa.
Exel Logistics, advised by NFC Property Services, acquired a 250,000-sq ft, high-bay warehouse in September at Park Farm Industrial Estate, Wellingborough, Northants, for £8.9m. CNT disposed of a 13-acre site in Kingston, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, in June, to baker Coolcore Processing for an undisclosed sum. A 180,000-sq ft production complex is under construction; more land is available for expansion, if required. Healey & Baker acted for Tesco Stores on the letting of a new 193,000-sq ft warehouse at Hampton Gate, Brackmills in Northampton. At the end of 1993, Tesco signed a 25-year lease with landlord Legal & General at a rent equating to £3.75 per sq ft.
In Dunstable, Bedfordshire, retailer Sport & Ski took the 87,000-sq ft Unit C at Chiltern Park. Prudential sold a 999-year lease in July for more than £2.6m. Across town at the AWD Works, W H Smith took an initial 80,000 sq ft in March, followed by another 40,000 sq ft at the end of September on flexible leases at a rent of £2.50 per sq ft. Erdman Lewis acted for J Sainsbury Developments on the prelet in January of 139,000 sq ft at Mollison Avenue, Enfield, north London, to GLS Fairway. GLS, advised by Knight Frank & Rutley, signed a 25-year lease at £5.25 per sq ft. The building, which is under construction, was sold to Standard Life Assurance in September for more than £9m.
