London real estate firm acquires Yorkshire logistics site for £54m

A London headquartered private equity real estate firm has announced its acquisition of a 136-acre tri-modal logistics development site in Yorkshire for £54m.

The site, now acquired by Henderson Park, is 20 kilometres from Leeds and has outline planning consent for 1.4 million sq ft of prime logistics space.

Seven units are expected to be developed ranging in size from 40,000 to 735,000 sq ft, with single ownership of the site offering the opportunity to design and create a strategic estate that will appeal to a mix of tenants across a broad range of sectors.

This acquisition has been undertaken with Cole Waterhouse, a leading UK real estate developer who is managing the acquisition execution, development and leasing of the site.

The site has already been prepared for development and work is due to commence in April 2022, with the first units ready for occupation by spring 2023.

Located on the site of a former colliery near Wakefield, the development is located at the nexus of key transport infrastructure and will be the country’s only inland distribution park offering tri-modal connectivity to the U.K. and continental Europe via road, water or rail.

The U.K.’s four major container ports are within a four hour drive via the M62 and A1 motorways, and the site offers direct access to the Strategic Freight Network with sidings catering for trains up to 640 metres long.

The completion of the transaction is conditional on the outcome of a reserved matters planning application, pursuant to an outline planning consent granted in 2019, which was submitted to Selby District Council in October 2021.

Christophe Kuhbier, managing director of Henderson Park, commented: “This is a rare opportunity to develop a single-ownership logistics estate of scale, designed to the highest technical specifications and with the latest occupier requirements in mind.

“Amidst the broader fundamentals of the UK logistics sector, we like the dynamics of the Yorkshire submarket, and believe this strategically located site is optimally placed to deliver much needed capacity into the local market.”