Tritax Big Box REIT, the logistics warehouse investor and asset manager, has pumped £59m into the land purchase and forward funding of a new West Yorkshire regional distribution facility.
The 635,000 sq ft warehouse is being built on a site recently acquired by the investment trust at Knottingley, Wakefield close to an M62 motorway junction. As part of the development deal the logistics hub has been pre-let in its entirety to TK Maxx, which retails clothes and home fashion across the UK and Ireland.
Justifying its choice of location, a Tritax statement said: “The site is strategically located to provide good access to Leeds, Manchester and the ports of Liverpool and Hull. In addition, the new distribution facility is expected to benefit from the planned lane expansion on the M62 between West Yorkshire and Manchester and from the upgrading of long stretches of the A1 to motorway status by 2017.”
The area has attracted several major occupiers in recent years, such as B & Q, Next, home and leisure retailer The Range and ASDA, and underpins its reputation as a major UK distribution centre.
Construction of the Knottingley warehouse — which will eventually contain three mezzanine floors creating an extra 765,000 sq ft of useable space — is being undertaken by Caddick Developments Limited. On site work will start within weeks and the building handed over to TK Maxx’s parent company, TJK UK, on a 20 year lease early in 2017.
“This off market acquisition is a strong addition to our portfolio, further diversifying our tenant mix,” commented Tritax partner, Colin Godfrey. “The property occupies a key logistics location that is achieving strong rental growth.
“This purchase takes our total pre-let forward funded developments to six assets, including the recently completed initial construction phase of the development let to Rolls-Royce Motor Cars at Bognor, due to deliver over three-million square feet of new logistics buildings by the beginning of 2017.”
