John Lewis opening new Leeds customer delivery hub

John Lewis is set to open a new customer delivery hub at Logic Leeds, Muse Developments’ flagship 110-acre development in the Leeds City Region Enterprise Zone.

John Lewis will occupy a 50,500 sq ft state-of-the-art distribution warehouse, which will include 4,000 sq ft of offices, at Logic Leeds.

Along with signing a 20-year-lease, the retailer will create 65 jobs at its new facility. The hub will service orders from the John Lewis shop in York, which opened in April 2014 and the new shop in Leeds, set to open in 2016.

John Lewis Leeds will be one of the retailer’s biggest full line department stores outside of London at 252,000 sq ft.

Mark Robinson, director customer delivery operations at John Lewis, said: “I’m delighted that we will be opening a new customer delivery hub in the Leeds area. This will allow us to successfully support our customers in the Leeds catchment and surrounding areas with the wide range of delivery, installation and assembly services we have on offer for our customers.”

David Wells, development director at Muse, commented: “We are absolutely delighted to have secured a tenant with such a reputation for quality as John Lewis. This is one of the most significant industrial property deals in Yorkshire this year and a ringing endorsement of our Logic Leeds development. We are already well-advanced on site with the construction of an 80,000 sq ft industrial building which is the largest of its kind to be speculatively developed in West Yorkshire since the recession. Together these two buildings will put Logic Leeds on the map.”

Logic Leeds has been supported by a landmark £2.5m grantagreement with Leeds City Council, funded through the government’s Building Foundations for Growth programme.

Councillor Judith Blake, leader of Leeds City Council with responsibility for economic development, also said: “We are delighted John Lewis has chosen the Leeds City Region Enterprise Zone to locate its distribution centre, ahead of the opening of their new store as part of the Victoria Gate development next year. Logic Leeds is a key site within the Enterprise Zone which offers unparalleled advantages in terms of scale, transport infrastructure and its proximity to Leeds city centre. I am sure John Lewis will find it an ideal location for their long term future in the region.”

Work will start on site shortly, with completion scheduled for spring next year.

The property consultants for this deal were the Leeds offices of Knight Frank and Carter Towler for Muse and Cushman and Wakefield for JLP.