£5m enterprise zone development attracts "strong interest"

A £5m speculative development within Leeds City Region Enterprise Zone targeting the manufacturing and logistics sectors is on schedule to be completed in July.

Connex 45, which is in Leeds Aire Valley and is supported by Leeds City Council, was shown to a group of property agents as the two buidlings begin to take shape.

The 80,000 sq ft development has already attracted interest which the developer believes will convert into deals as the completion date nears.

A £670,000 grant was awarded to Wilton last autumn to contribute towards their delivery, secured by Leeds City Council from the Government’s ‘Building Foundations for Growth’ fund, which enabled work to begin in October.

Jason Stowe, managing director of the site’s developers Wilton Developments, said: “The council’s input helped, the underlying prospects helped, the lack of potential supply in Leeds helped. There was an opportunity here.

“We did other speculative developments through the recession but we hadn’t done any industrial buildings for a while.

“We have had very strong interest in both units and we are reasonably confident it won’t take too long to let them.”

Mr Stowe was complementary about the role of Leeds City Council in getting development started at the Enterprise Zone.

“You can’t under-estimate what the council has done,” he said. “They have managed to kick-start the process, that’s a key factor in getting the zone going.

“There’s a real doubt whether any of the developers who are now on site would have started without the council’s input.”