Food superstores and non-food retail warehouses provide some excitement, but other sectors remain moribund. Charlie Jacoby examines why, despite its location, Bury is not sprakling.
Food stores are acquiring a taste for Bury St Edmunds. In addition to the existing Sainsbury superstore, Hinchland has built a 35,000-sq ft superstore for Waitrose on the Boby site, between Parkway and St Andrews Street South. Advising Hinchland was Norwich architect Chaplin & Farrant. Meanwhile, Tesco has won outline planning permission for a 40,000-sq ft store on the St Saviours Hospital site.
But Abbeygate Properties’ proposal for a 55,000-sq ft foodstore at Tayfen Meadows will not go ahead, according to local planning officer Alan Johnson. The council is more sympathetic to the proposed 15-acre business-use element and the 25 acres of residential. Infrastructure planned for the scheme includes two new stretches of dual-carriageway.
In the town centre, Chartwell is keen to build a 165,000-sq ft shopping scheme on the 10.5-acre Cattle Market site, which is owned jointly by St Edmundsbury council and a local livestock auctioneer. Chartwell, advised by Lunson Mitchenall, plans a 45,000-sq ft anchor, three units of between 4,000 and 5,000 sq ft and 40 small units for multiples.
Unfortunately, since winning the competition to build, the planning process has not gone smoothly. “The whole thing has got hopelessly bogged down in the local plan,” says David Gregor of Chartwell. “The decision on our proposal has been deferred until next autumn. We are sitting on our hands.” Others believe that Chartwell’s scheme is too ambitious: “I suspect that it will be phased,” says local agent Charles Merrifield.
Buttermarket and Cornhill form the prime retail focus. Abbeygate Street is an appendage to these two, but is holding up well as the best of the secondary.
“Prime rents are still hovering between £72 and £75 zone A,” says local agent Matthew Fullerton. “That rental level was set by a Clinton Cards letting during the 1980s, but I believe that the developer could have achieved a substantially higher figure. I believe that the whole of the centre of Bury is underlet and that the market could stand up to £100 per sq ft zone A. But there has been no new building offered, especially in the 2,000-sq ft size range.”
The letting to Body Shop in February 1992 was the last in prime. Local agent Kevin McGowan achieved £72.50 zone A on behalf of a local landlord. Michael Peddar & Co acted for Body Shop.
In St Johns Street, Matthew Fullerton, acting for Marchen Property Developments, has seen considerable success. After letting four units in the refurbished former ironmongers at nos 9 to 12 last year, it let the 600-sq ft no 13 earlier this year and the 900-sq ft units at nos 14 to 15 in August. All these deals were agreed at about zone A £34. “The market is healthy in peripheral areas,” says Fullerton.
Bury’s main industrial district is the 400-acre Moreton Hall Estate to the east of the town which was begun in the early 1970s. Historically, Dencora has been the most important developer here. It has built 211,500 sq ft in four estates. Chris Bradley-Watson of Dencora reports that rents peaked at close to £6 per sq ft. This figure has dropped as low as £4 per sq ft, but rents are beginning to pull back.
All this is taking place, according to Johnson, under the auspices of a local plan which is “trying to strike a balance between development pressures and the need for conservation”.
Wilson Connolly owns 55 acres adjacent to Moreton Hall with planning permission for a business and industrial park. The developer is currently working with the local authorities to prepare a development strategy for the area.
Meanwhile, Churchmanor Estates can still claim Bury’s biggest warehouse deal of the year. Merrifield bought a 4-acre site at Moreton Hall from St Edmundsbury council for £157,000 per acre. On it Churchmanor has just completed a 56,500-sq ft unit, which was prelet to Bass subsidiary Britvic at the start of the year. Bass agreed to pay £4.25 per sq ft and no agents were involved. The property was presold by St Quintin to Canada Life for £2.5m.
The old industrial areas, dating from the town’s rapid growth in the 1960s and 1970s, are on Northern Way, Eastern Way and Western Way. Rents on Northern Way, the most recently developed, do not go much over £2.50 per sq ft, says Fullerton. Some of the Western Way buildings will soon be due for redevelopment.
At present, office activity is notable for its absence. The only faint stirrings come from local developers jostling for position when the market picks up. As Merrifield remarks, much existing space lacks a vital element: “There is a lot of accommodation without parking.”
An out-of-town deal at the Anderson Centre, Western Way estate, is the most important of what recent lettings there have been. Barker Storey Hart, acting for Chartered Developments, let 3,000 sq ft to Essex Industries at £9 per sq ft. Built in 1989, the Anderson Centre still has 20,000 sq ft to let.
In one of the few town-centre deals, John Maunders Group, advised by Barker Storey Hart and Connell Wilson, let 3,566 sq ft at Tartan House on Etna Road. Shell subsidiary SGL took a four-year lease at £6.20 per sq ft.
Future developments include Fair Mile Developments’ proposal for a 15,500-sq ft building on Station Hill. Maurice Day of Fair Mile says that he hopes to start on site this autumn for completion in the autumn of next year, with or without a prelet. Sole agent BSH is not quoting a rent.
Builders merchant Cakebread Robey has put its 1.5-acre adjacent site on the market. Graham Collins of Fuller Hawsey Wills says that no conclusion has been reached, but that he expects a mixed development.
Between the Fair Mile Developments and Cakebread Robey sites, Fullerton acts for the owner of the 0.5-acre Station Hill Joinery site, and has received substantial interest at an undisclosed figure.
In Looms Lane, Baker Construction has presold three office units of 2,000 sq ft, 1,700 sq ft and 1,800 sq ft. The latter two were sold by BSH at freehold prices around £85 per sq ft. Baker Construction is starting on site immediately for completion in six months. Fullerton will act as letting agent on behalf of the private investor who bought the 2,000-sq ft unit there. He is looking for £12 per sq ft.
These developments should indicate renewed activity, but they are false flags for a market which has yet to start moving, let alone race.
“Either the green shoots of recovery have been sprayed with weedkiller, or they bloomed and were harvested very quickly,” says Fullerton of Bury’s economic climate. “I see greater confidence, but not enough to bring back bonanza days for developers.”
