£5m retail park deal highlights investor interest in Coventry

A Coventry-based property group has completed the £5m sale of a retail park in a move which it said indicated the growing appetite amongst investors for property in the city.

James Davies, managing director of the Wigley Group, said the sale of Vantage Park to a property trust was a sign of things to come for the city and the wider region.

Wigley sold the development of four units totalling, 25,000 sq ft, which is let to Magnet, Formula One Autocentres and Adrenaline Motorcycles, to Schroders’ Multi-Let Industrial Property Unit Trust.

Wigley, which has been based in Coventry and Warwickshire for more than 50 years, is now constructing speculative developments in the city and believes a number of factors are enticing major funds to look more closely at the city.

“There is no question that Coventry is proving an attractive proposition to investors and there are a number of reasons,” he said.

“The success of Jaguar Land Rover and the manufacturing and engineering sector has clearly had an impact on demand in recent times and there has been increasing take-up and growing market confidence in and around the city.

“We have healthy interest in the two units we have speculatively developed at the Henley Road Industrial Estate and are confident they will attract tenants in the near future.”

Several other major developments – such as the new UK Battery Industrialisation Centre and Meggitt’s new £130m campus at Ansty Park– indicated the high regard in which the city was now held, he added.

Confidence in the area is one of the main reasons why the Wigley Group has agreed to join the Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership at MIPIM in two weeks’ time.

The group will be one of around 20 companies and organisations representing the area at the show in Cannes – which attracts around 30,000 delegates.

Mr Davies added: “We are working closely with a number of different public bodies as well as private companies and we want to attract more projects to feed our development pipeline.

“I think it is fair to say that the positive landscape in Coventry, Warwickshire and the West Midlands has encouraged us to take that step and invest the time and money to have a meaningful presence at MIPIM.

“Coventry and Warwickshire has been to the event for more than 20 years, and not only do we want to support that presence to continue to grow its profile, we believe there are real opportunities for us to win new work.”

Pictured: James Davies (far right) with (left to right), Robert Wigley, Rob Watts, James Brookes and James Davies.