Charlie Jacoby rounds up current activity in the property markets of Bradford, Huddersfield and Halifax.
Bradford’s industrial market dominates the M62 outside Leeds and Wakefield, and there are several deals in the offing. The 16-acre Hunsworth Dye Works on junction 26 of the M62 is to be bought by Commercial Development Projects (CDP), represented by Carter & Co and Dunlop Heywood.
Acting for Minstergate, Weatherall Green & Smith has put the 52,000-sq ft Unit 1 of City Link under offer to a Bradford-based manufacturing company, a client of Knight Frank & Rutley, at £1.8m.
For the future, Bradford Council has granted a long lease on a 20-acre site for a science park. Eurocam will be situated at the top end of the M606. DTZ Debenham Thorpe is acting for the developer, Chase Advanced Technologies. The marketing will emphasise hi-tech companies, and DTZ’s Andrew Gent hopes to realise rents of between £10 and £15 per sq ft. “It is not a normal science park,” says Gent. “There will be on-site consultancy and Japanese input.”
Donaldsons has just acquired 6.5 acres for developer P S Turner to build industrial design-and-build packages. It forms part of the West Yorkshire Transport Museum site at Low Moor. KFR acted for the museum. Donaldsons values the land at £125,000 per acre.
Grimley J R Eve’s Geoffrey Wakeling points out that the close proximity of Leeds and Bradford does not reflect a similarity in business and in property terms. “In these respects,” he says, “their traditional strengths and weaknesses in industry and commerce mean that they are far apart. However, the cities’ Chambers of Commerce and Industry have been working closely together over the past year.”
Leeds/Bradford Airport is now allowed to operate night flights. This is both a boost for business confidence in the area and a welcome start to serious competition with Manchester Airport. The Leeds and Bradford business communities have a longstanding rivalry with Manchester.
KFR, Eddisons Commercial and Richard Ellis pulled off the largest office deal of 1993 in Bradford. Acting for St James Securities, they prelet a 26,000-sq ft unit on St James Business Park to General Accident. They now value the scheme for investment at over £4m. They are quoting £13 per sq ft for further sites, providing up to 100,000 sq ft of space.
Grimley J R Eve’s Nick Child reports that there are a lot of much larger office requirements for Bradford, although “more are rumours about government departments than actual deals”. He puts prime rents at up to £12 per sq ft, but secondary rents as low as £3 per sq ft.
According to one agent, the rumours focus on a 200,000-sq ft joint requirement for the Department of Employment, NHS Estates and the Inland Revenue.
This news will hearten the private client of joint agents King Sturge & Co, Starkeys Commercial and Eddisons Commercial, which has a proposal to refit the 75,000-sq ft Broadgate House next to the railway station. The guide rent for units from 2,000 sq ft is £14 per sq ft.
Chesterton has just been instructed by an unnamed bank to market the 138,000-sq ft Conditioning House. The building needs refurbishment and Chesterton is looking for a prelet, for either offices or hotel use. It is a turn-of-the-century building and there are no quoting terms for either leasehold or freehold.
Long-term planning for the city has been made much easier thanks to Bradford’s success in the Government’s City Challenge programme. “It makes assembling sites close to the city centre that much easier,” says Erdman Lewis’s Miles Lawrence.
In general terms, James Smithies of Lambert Smith Hampton puts rents in Bradford town centre at between £5 and £8 per sq ft.
Out of town, Spring Ram subsidiary Ramfield is starting on site with the first 10,000 sq ft of a 40,000-sq ft low-density scheme called Euroway Court. The Euroway Trading Estate stands 2 miles down the M606, and agents Erdman Lewis and St Quintin are asking £10.50 per sq ft. Lawrence hopes to win one of the government departments too, but says that “there are others in the market”.
Meanwhile, St Martins Property group has been having success with its Fieldhead Business centre, a 9-acre multi-use scheme. Computer company Eltec took 7,000 sq ft of offices there. There is also a 6,500-sq ft multi-cultural foodstore. The agent is Weatherall Green & Smith.
Halifax’s office market is barely ticking over. To sum it up, Grimley J R Eve is acting for Liverpool & Victoria Insurance in a search for 1,000 sq ft, and cannot find it. “Rents are too low to justify development,” says Child.
Child reports that the office market in Huddersfield has been very slow as well, and adds that there is a lot of stock available. But he is pleased to note some new inquiries . “Huddersfield’s market is more buoyant than that of Halifax,” he says.
To cope with this new demand, CDP has a proposal for up to 136,000 sq ft in the refurbishment of the grade II-listed St Georges House, next to the railway station. Agents Lambert Smith Hampton and Hanson Chartered Surveyors are talking to a quasi-governmental department which wants to take 86,000 sq ft.
Knight Frank & Rutley’s Paul Fairhurst agrees that: “There would be a lot more interest in Huddersfield if there was something of quality on offer”.
Bradford, Halifax and Huddersfield are not famous for their retail, but they operate as healthy local centres and there is good interest.
The old shopping centre, the Arndale Centre, is Bradford’s retail focus. “The main position has consolidated around the Arndale Centre,” says Grimley’s Tim Smith. “Some new car parks have helped to bring people back into the city.”
Outside the centre is Darley Street, where Keith Cardale Groves’ Chris Fox puts zone As at around £90. Only a quarter of a mile away from this is Broadway, where zone As are around £75. “The decline in rent has stopped,” says Fox, “and tenants are starting to have to put their hands in their pockets.”
Acting for Yorkshire Building Society, DTZ Debenham Thorpe let the 1,100-sq ft 53 Market Street to Skipton Building Society at £50 zone A.
For the future, Bradford awaits the development plans for Forster Square on British Rail’s land. BR’s development partner for Forster Square is to be announced soon. Erdman Lewis is advising the joint venture between Yorvale and Higgs & Hill which is bidding for partnership with BR. DTZ Debenham Thorpe is acting for another of the interested parties.
Erdman Lewis’s Mike Fawley is more enthusiastic about Halifax than Bradford. “There is very strong demand,” he says. “Anything that stays on the market in Halifax is because it is too small.” He adds that zone A rents in Halifax are still held to be the £55 they were in the boom, because of lack of evidence.
Keith Cardale Groves’ Damien Kearns disagrees. “Commercial Street is prime, but it is a bit desperate,” he says. “Zone As of £65 in the late 1980s have dropped to £45.”
There is controversial talk of pedestrianising part of Halifax town centre. “The important thing about pedestrianisation is to provide cheap and ample parking,” stresses Smith.
Jones Lang Wootton did one of the best deals in Huddersfield when it let 41-43 New Street to Sears Womenswear, guaranteed by Miss Selfridge. Acting for Scottish Amicable, JLW achieved £74 zone A. “The recent pedestrianisation of New Street helped, and I think that the town is trading better,” says JLW’s James Marshall. Marks & Spencer is thought to be interested in the town.
Fox says that best zone As in the town should go as high as £80. The town is split between New Street, King Street and Princess Alexandra’s Walk. “These are the three best areas with nothing much in between,” he says.
Erdman Lewis achieved a sublet at £65 zone A for the 2,300-sq ft 26 New Street. It acted for Homepower, which granted this lease to JJB Sports. “The building was popular because it was more than 2,000 sq ft,” declares Fawley.
Erdman Lewis also has strong interest in both 35 Princess Alexandra’s Walk and 68-70 New Street. Fawley maintains that both will go with nominal contributions either way. Erdman Lewis is acting for the Signet Group on Ratners at no 35, and for Dash at nos 68-70. Passing zone As are £70 in Princess Alexandra’s Walk and £50 in New Street.
There is a plan to put together a 300,000-sq ft retail scheme in Huddersfield by joint developer Henry Boot and Kirklees, advised by Donaldsons. This relies on compulsory purchase orders which are being resisted by another developer, Abacus, advised by Erdman Lewis.
