Two weeks after selling Fort Retail Park in Birmingham for £90m, Richardsons Developments has bought a 14.57ha (36 acre) greenfield site at Monks Cross, York, from Bass Developments for an estimated £15m.
The site has consent for 33,445sq m (360,000sq ft) of retail space, which Richardsons intends to develop in conjunction with Solihull-based Kingspark Developments.
In April, Bass sold 4.1ha (10 acres) of the site – which is located off York’s northern ring road – for an undisclosed sum to Asda. The retailer is now on site constructing a 5,110sq m (55,000sq ft) superstore. A Sainsbury superstore is located on an adjoining site.
Bass received planning consent last September from Ryedale Council for a 33,445sq m (360,000sq ft) retail scheme. The consent, which was inherited by the new York Council in April, specifies that units must be a minium of 929 sq m (10,000sq ft) and that High Street goods, such as clothing, shoes, jewellery and cameras, should not be on offer.
Bass had begun marketing the site through the Leeds office of Chesterton as Cloisters Retail Park. Chesterton’s Simon Ives said there had been a substantial amount of interest in the scheme.
Richardsons states that rents at Monks Cross are likely to be £193.75 per sq m to £215.28 per sq m (£18 to £20 per sq ft). The company believes that the scheme will have an estimated value of about £75m on completion. “We aim to be up and trading within 18 months”, said joint managing director Don Richardson.
EGi News 12/06/96
