Scotland

Three pre-lets already secured at £9m retail warehouse redevelopment at Faraday Retail Park

Faraday Retail ParkLegal & General Property (LGP) has announced that, on behalf of the Life Fund, it has pre-let three of four retail warehouse units on the site of a former Tesco supermarket at Faraday Retail Park, Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire.

The demolition of the existing building commenced in January of this year.

The site of the former Tesco unit had been vacant since 2005, when LGP relocated the supermarket to a larger 103,000 sq ft anchor unit within the retail park. LGP successfully gained planning consent for the redevelopment of the existing unit to provide four new retail warehouse units totalling circa 41,000 sq ft, along with additional mezzanine floorspace.

3D Reid (Architects) Limited designed the scheme, CBA acted as the quantity surveyor (QS) and Beattie Watkinson as the consultant. Bowmer & Kirkland Limited appointed Deans Civil Engineering for the works, which included: earthworks, substructures, roads, concrete yards and a substantial drainage network inclusive of an attenuation system and an 11m deep manhole, which will be built over an existing culvert.

The development, which is expected to create around 50 new jobs, began in mid February 2011 and is intended to finish in mid February 2012.

The site is highly accessible; it is situated on the edge of the town adjacent to the South Circular Ring Road (A89) with second access from Coatbank Street (A725), providing easy access to Glasgow’s suburbs.

The retail units, which range in size from 9,500 sq ft to 14,000 sq ft, have been pre-let to Currys, Mothercare and Arcadia (trading as Outfit) on 10-year leases. The lettings have taken place at rents in the region of £19-20 psf, further driving rental levels on the park. The remaining unit will provide 7,180 sq ft and there is good demand for this accommodation. Current occupiers include: Matalan, Argos, Pets at Home, Next, Brantano, Comet, Instore and Carpetright. There are 1138 parking spaces available for approximately 57,000 weekly visitors (Source: Footfall Interactive).

James Whitehill, Senior Fund Manager at Legal & General Property, commented:

“The development of these four new retail units at Faraday Retail Park is in line with the Fund’s strategy of driving asset management activities to underpin outperformance.

“This new development immediately adds value to the park whilst providing opportunities to further enhance rental levels over the medium to long term. The new tenant line-up re-positions the park and adds to its already strong retail offer, which should in turn attract additional occupiers to the scheme. The new units also provide an opportunity to re-invigorate the already open A1-dominated tenant mix, which will further add to the overall appeal of the park to its shoppers.”

 

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