A corporate pension fund client of international property investment manager, Cordea Savills, has agreed to finance the speculative construction of two Warwickshire ‘big huts’ along with developers Canmoor.
The two Hams Hall warehouses will be built on sites codenamed Silver Bullet and Black Velvet near Coleshill and total 310,000 sq ft. Both plots were purchased off market in December, 2013, and August 2014 respectively.
Work has already started on the Silver Bullet project — providing 140,000 sq ft of industrial space with a 12-metre eave height and a 50-metre self-contained yard — with completion slated for early summer this year.
Once the first warehouse has been let the fund intends to submit an application for Black Velvet, provisionally offering 170,000 sq ft of warehouse space with 12-metre eaves and a 40 to 60-metre yard.
“We have enjoyed a very successful relationship with Canmoor at Endeavour Park, Southampton,” explained Cordea Savills’ director of investment, Lucy Winterburn, “and given the shortage of competing stock and quality of the finished assets, we fully expect a similar outcome at Silver Bullet and Black Velvet.”
She confirmed Savills and Jones Lang LaSalle have been appointed joint letting agents on both schemes, adding: “We are extremely pleased with the progress made at the two sites and tenant interest received to date is very encouraging.”
A former triple power station site, the north Warwickshire distribution park was started in the late 1990s. An intermodal rail hub, Hams Hall Rail Freight Terminal, also operates at the site. “Hams Hall is now recognised as a leading logistics location and takes the fund’s industrial exposure into the premier league,” Winterburn said.
In a separate deal Cordea Savills European Commercial Fund has sold its Quay Two office complex in the heart of Edinburgh’s business district for £24.52m to clients of Knight Frank Investment Management.
The 60,178 sq ft Exchange District building boasts some of the highest profile tenants anywhere in the Scottish capital. Contributing to Quay Two’s annual £1.7m rental income are The Secretary of State, Lloyds TSB Bank, Pinsent Masons, Barclays Bank and Baker Tilly Services. The office space is currently 78 per cent let.
Nick Penny is director of investment at Savills Scotland which handled the sale. “Exchange District continues to develop and grow and therefore the already-strong visual presence of Edinburgh Quay Two within the city’s financial business address will become ever more prominent,” he commented.
“Investors were attracted to this premium office building and recognised the opportunity to carry out value added asset management.”
