St James Securities sells Morrisons store in multi-million pound deal

PROPERTY developer St James Securities, based in Leeds, has sold a new 64,500 sq ft Morrison superstore to the British Steel Pension Fund in a multi-million pound deal.

The supermarket in Ilkeston, together with a petrol filling station, is now open.

This development has enabled Derby College to build a £10m state-of-the-art campus on the site of the redundant magistrates’ court in the centre of Ilkeston. The sale of the Field Road campus site to St James Securities provided the funding for the new college, which caters for 800 students.

Paul Morris, director of St James Securities, said: “First, this successful deal is tremendous news for Ilkeston, which now has a brand-new supermarket and a college of further education, which is fit for the 21st century and provides a first-class education for students in the Ilkeston region.

“Secondly, following this deal and the successful development of a new 32,450 sq ft M&S Simply Food at Leeds Road in Harrogate, we are delighted to report that St James Securities are active and open for business.”

“These developments underline our reputation for high-profile quality schemes and add to our portfolio of food-store retail, office and mixed-use sectors. With further innovative developments planned in Yorkshire and beyond, we are continuing to successfully progress schemes in improving market conditions.”

He added: “A large part of our achievement is down to our ability to work on sensitive projects and entering new markets. Our recent success in Ilkeston was the culmination of much hard work. We are proud of the strong team we have here at SJS.

“We have a good pipeline of work, including projects in Leeds, Wakefield and Derbyshire, and we are on the look-out for more projects.”

David Watson of Leeds property consultancy WSB represented St James Securities, while Richard Walsh of Colliers International represented the British Steel Pension Fund.