A third of the units on a landmark industrial estate are now under offer — just hours after the speculative development was unveiled to North-East property agents.
Portobello Trade Park is unveiled to North-East industrial agents prior to its completion
Weeks away from completion, the 15-unit Portobello Trade Park next to the A1(M) in Gateshead was built by Durham-based Ravensworth Property Developments as a £7m investment. Joint letting agents Naylors and Newcastle-based HTA Real Estate hosted the launch event on the 6.5-acre site.
“The high visibility of the units has resulted in an extraordinary level of enquiries and we are delighted to announce that five units are already under offer and close to signing,” said Ravensworth development manager, Geoff Clark.
The scheme, north of Washington services at Birtley, has been specifically designed to cater for new and expanding small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with units ranging from 2,100 sq ft to 23,000 sq ft. Once fully occupied the park is expected to support more than 200 jobs.
An elevation of one of the fifteen units at Portobello Trade Park, five of which are now under offer
Keith Stewart is head of industrial agency at Naylors. “We have received over 100 enquiries since we first started marketing the scheme and now that interested parties can see the scale and quality of the space available we are starting to convert these enquiries into deals,” he explained, adding that interest is coming primarily from distribution businesses and trade counter occupiers attracted by the estate’s prominent location.
For HTA Real Estate, Nick Atkinson said: “There has been a well reported lack of new industrial development in the North-East and Portobello Trade Park is the first opportunity since pre-recession times for SME’s to occupy brand new, high quality premises in the Gateshead area.”
Partially funded by The North-East Local Enterprise Partnership, which agreed to provide a £982,000 loan from the Growing Places North-East Investment Fund, the scheme also received £2.75m from the European Regional Development Fund.
