Property investor bags £39m Poundworld logistics site

PROPERTY group LondonMetric has snapped up another site, this time in West Yorkshire, which is pre-let to Poundworld, for £39.4m.

The 524,000 sq ft retail distribution centre site in Wakefield has been acquired from owners CPD, the development arm of Marshall Construction Group.

LondonMetric will purchase and forward-fund the development with construction due to start this summer, with a finish date set for August 2016, after announcing the acquisition of a Next warehouse in Doncaster yesterday.

Poundworld Retail has pre-let the site on a 15-year lease at a rent of £2.5m a year, and it will be located near J.31 of the M62 in a logistics hub with adjoining occupiers including Asda, DHL, HSBC, Royal Mail and TK Maxx.

Andrew Jones, chief executive of LondonMetric, said: “As our two existing distribution developments near practical completion, this acquisition replenishes our near term development portfolio and extends our currently committed and pipeline developments to c3.5 million square feet.

“The development is well located, will provide significant warehouse space, benefits from attractive contractual uplifts and is pre-let to an expanding retailer who we already enjoy a strong relationship with.”

Mark Ward, property director at Poundworld Retail, said: “We have a rapid store expansion programme over the next three years and the new distribution centre will aid our expansion plans, improve efficiency and allow for a broadening of our product range in our single and multi-price format stores.

“We look forward to partnering with LondonMetric whom we have known for a number of years, as we bring further jobs and prosperity to the Yorkshire region.”

LondonMetric was advised by JLL.