Hargreaves Services has sold off a piece of land at the Unity regeneration scheme in Doncaster for £25m and pulled off the deal a year earlier than planned.
Unity is a major regeneration and development scheme in Yorkshire, which promises to create 3,100 new homes, 180 acres of commercial development, and bring 6,000 jobs to the region. The development also includes the opportunity to build a 650MW power station across a wider 618-acre site.
Hargreaves owns the Unity site as part of a 50:50 joint venture with Waystone Developments and the deal announced today represents the first significant transaction on the Unity mixed use development scheme.
The deal involves a 79-acre plot being sold to a national retailer, which intends to use the site to build an 800,000 sq ft distribution and training centre.
It was initially expected that the deal would go through in the second half of the financial year ending May 2022, following the completion of the site access road and plot servicing. However, the deal was moved forward at the request of the retailer.
Hargreaves chairman Roger McDowell said: "The Unity scheme is one of the most exciting developments in Hargreaves Land's portfolio and it is encouraging that our purchaser has perceived the benefit of early completion to accelerate their project delivery. This will undoubtedly further enhance the attractiveness of the Unity development to other commercial users."
The work to build the site access road was launched at the beginning of 2021 and is expected to be completed by the end of the year. It is funded independently from Hargreaves.
The joint venture between Hargreaves and Waystone Developments was paid around £25m for the 79-acre plot. The money has been received by the joint venture and is being retained while the Unity board reviews the project's funding requirements.
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The 650-acre Unity development is spread across six distinct developments. They are Unity Life, Unity Energy, Unity Town, Unity Living, Unity Link, and Unity Connect.
The project reached a major milestone in December 2020 with the completion and opening of the new Link Road which provides the whole development with direct access to junction 5 of the M18 motorway.
In March, Wakefield's Peter Duffy Limited was appointed by the joint venture to build a new estate road that will connect the Unity Connect zone to Unity Way, a new link road between Junction 5 of the M18 and Waggons Way. The new road "unlock future development" within Unity Connect, which is the project's logistics, manufacturing and industrial zone.