An £18.5 million deal has been concluded for the high occupancy Humber Enterprise Park in Brough.
Leading Yorkshire development and asset management company Citivale has entered into joint venture with real estate investor Westcore Europe, following the end of its partnership with LRE Industrial.
This recapitalisation of the one million sq ft enterprise park, set over 20 acres of land, will pave the way for further development and investment this year.
James Appleton-Metcalfe, managing director of Citivale, said: “Our partnership with LRE Capital, which enabled us to buy Humber Enterprise Park five years ago, has come to a cordial end. The fund had reached the end of its life.
“We were looking for a like-minded investor and were delighted when Westcore first expressed an interest and then entered into a joint venture with us. We have the same aims and objectives for the future of this very special enterprise park and this clarity of vision will enable us to develop out the park and create much-needed jobs for the Humber region.”
The annual rental income of the Humber Enterprise Park is £1.8 million, with a net initial yield of 9.29 per cent.
Daniel Barrington, chief operating officer of Westcore Europe said: “We are delighted to have teamed up with Citivale to buy the successful Humber Enterprise Park. We believe our joint venture will take the park on to another level and enable it become one of the region’s great success stories.”
Westcore is a Swiss-headquartered operation, with the wider group having a strong asset tie to the US.
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This deal comes hard on the heels of two new lettings at the comprehensively-refurbished Mercury office building on the park. Two local companies Morson Projects Ltd and Employment Ownership Association have taken 2,500 sq ft on the ground floor of the building on a six-year lease.
“The future is very bright at HEP,” Mr Appleton-Metcalfe said, referencing BAE’s ramp-up for the Tempest programme – the next-generation fighter plane – which will accelerate throughout the year, with 100 manufacturing employees transferring to engineering regimes.
“In the meantime, we have attracted some major companies to the park. Last year major 海角视频 kitchen manufacturer Wren took a six-year lease on a high-quality 150,000 sq ft warehouse, which was the largest industrial letting within the area during the past 12 months.
“Our competitive rents and unrivalled working environment are proving attractive to a whole raft of different occupiers,” Mr Appleton-Metcalfe said. “The letting to Wren brings our industrial accommodation to 100 per cent occupancy and completes over 550,000 sq ft of industrial transactions carried out by Citivale at HEP since purchase. This is testament to our ability to deliver on larger refurbishment and development projects.
“We are very proud of what we have achieved here so far. The high quality of the refurbished buildings, the enterprise zone incentives and the park’s excellent location, with superb road and rail access close by, is proving to be a winning combination.”
So far £6 million has been spent on regenerating the whole site, described as “a jewel in the Humber’s crown” with another £1.2 million earmarked for further improvements. It is estimated that 1,600 jobs will be created when the park is fully developed during the next three years.
“Westcore and ourselves are keenly aware that our park should not just be a place to work, but also a proper community,” Mr Appleton-Metcalfe added. “So we are creating a running track on the perimeter of the site; a heritage museum, paying tribute to the rich history of aircraft manufacturing here; green spaces and allotments; break-out areas and spaces for art; and a fitness suite.”