Property consultant announced for Terry’s Chocolate factory
PROPERTY consultant King Sturge has been appointed as agent for one of Yorkshire’s most prestigious and long-awaited regeneration projects –the redevelopment of the former Terry’s Chocolate Factory.
City of York planners are expected to rule on plans for The Chocolate Works, York, which will redevelop 25 acres of the former Terry’s Chocolate Factory, Bishopthorpe Road, as a mixed-used scheme featuring offices, shops, restaurants, hotels and homes, next month.
The £185m development will create more than 2,800 jobs, and, if planners give the go ahead, developer GHT Developments LLP, a joint venture between York-based property company Grantside and London-based investment business Tritax will start on site immediately with enabling works.
Leading the King Sturge agency team, which will act jointly with DTZ, will be office agency team partner, Jonathan Gale and retail and leisure specialist partner, Nick Ferris.
“Terry’s Chocolate Factory is among the north’s few remaining historic industrial landmarks which everyone knows and cares about,” said Mr Gale.
“There is an opportunity to create the perfect business environment to compete with the very best schemes throughout the north and we’re thrilled to be involved.”
The Terry’s Chocolate Factory – a well-known local landmark situated next to York Racecourse – ceased production in September 2005 after 79 years on the site and was acquired by GHT Developments the following spring.
The commercial elements of the scheme will feature upto 350,000sq ft of prime office space, divided between two floors in the historic listed chocolate factory and eight new-build units, one of which will accommodate a new digital and creative technology centre for Science City York and a second already pre-let to a law firm. Car parking for the offices will be allocated at one space for every 500 sq ft.
The scheme’s 41,000sq ft of retail and leisure space will include restaurants, brasserie and cafés around a central plaza incorporating the distinctive Terry’s Clock Tower as well as a luxury 150-bedroom, four-star hotel with a swimming pool and fitness centre/spa and a second three-star, 110-bedroom business-focused hotel.
The rest of the scheme, which will be developed in phases over three to five years, will feature over 225 apartments and townhouses, a medical centre, convenience store, nursery, senior living accommodation and a 60-bedroom care home.
Steve Davis, Grantside managing director, said:
“Bringing such a prestigious high-quality development at one of the North’s best-known locations to fruition requires the input of top-quality professionals and we are delighted to have appointed King Sturge which has impressed us with its drive and vision.”
