Major regeneration projects continue to be a key feature of commercial property activity with Scunthorpe becoming the latest town to benefit from an upcoming retail and leisure redevelopment. This will take place at the Gallagher Leisure Park on Doncaster Road after restaurant tycoon Raja Adil snapped up a large chunk of the site in order to create a major new leisure development.
In total, the site measures 2.64 acres and lies immediately adjacent to the town’s Glanford Park stadium and the Marks & Spencer retail park. Mr Adil intends to transform the largely vacant site into a booming leisure hub with a number of new restaurants and a gym, channelling a “high level of investment” into the project as a means of creating “plenty of jobs.”
As chief executive officer of the Adil Group, Mr Adil claims that he has been seeking investment opportunities with the capability of diversifying the group’s portfolio for some time. Along with the plot of vacant land, the deal includes space currently occupied by Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Frankie and Benny’s, Travelodge and KFC – the latter bringing the value of KFC acquisitions by the Adil Group to date in excess of £24 million.
Mr Adil says; “This acquisition is part of our diversification strategy and ties in with our policy of owning the freehold of sites in which we trade from.
“This deal represented a good opportunity to purchase buildings with good quality tenants.
“We will be targeting to acquire further leisure and retail parks in off market deals during the course of this year.”
At present, the site in question has outline planning permission for a number of hotel and restaurant units, along with up to 35,000 sq ft of healthcare and fitness space and the associated parking required for such a venture. This should make it relatively easy for the Adil Group to realise the site’s potential under current plans, especially as the nearby Marks & Spencer retail park is unlikely to lodge opposition as there will be no retail units on the site to up the area’s level of competition.
David Watson, partner and head of capital markets at WSB Property Consultants, negotiated the deal on behalf of the Adil Group and was able to confirm that the purchase agreement was reached last week. Although neither he nor Mr Adil have so far disclosed the value of the deal, nor the amount the Adil Group will invest in the development project, he is confident that the park’s regeneration will prove hugely successful with local consumers and business representatives.
Mr Watson says; “It’s going to take a high level of investment – he [Mr Adil] will invest whatever it takes to get it working, I don’t think he’s that worried about the cost.
“We are delighted the deal has been completed and we can start to move forward and we are looking forward to enhancing the opportunities of the park.
“Hopefully by the end of this year we will start to see things happening down there.”
