Cashing in at Cabot

The Crown Estate is cashing in on the successful Cabot Park, Avonmouth by selling a third share to Axa Real Estate acting for a client.

The 33 acre site will be developed by the Co-operative group as a regional distribution centre. The Crown Estate will retain the other 64 acres on the park, which is used by Honda for storing its vehicles. The park wasdeveloped by a joint venture of Gallan and Stoford with DJ Deloitte acting for the Crown Estate.

The Crown’s regional portfolio includes shopping centres, retail parks, industrial estates and business parks across the UK. Its portfolio is valued at over £7 billion.

Avonmouth is at the heart of an active industrial market that benefits from good transport links. This brings a steady stream of deals, such as Flights Hallmark taking 3,467 sq.metres (37,317 sq.ft.), through Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH), in Silverton Investments’ Port Edward Centre. The building will be used by a fleet of buses serving the region. LSH’s Tim Beare commented: “The Port Edward Centre is now a fully occupied estate, further demonstrating that Avonmouth
continues to be a target destination for a broad range of high quality occupiers.”

The strength of the Avonmouth market makes refurbishments such as the Croudace Properties’ unit at Third Way Corner (which is being marketed by DTZ and Jones Lang LaSalle), profitable. Research by DTZ shows that the south west has the smallest amount of industrial space available in the UK, now below 10% of total availability.

The firm’s Philip Cranstone said: “The refurbishment of the unit is a good example of the emerging Grade B battleground in the south west and results in some of the best quality refurbished space in Avonmouth.”

A foretaste of how the market is going is provided by Central Park, Bristol getting its first pre let with the pallet distributor CHEP taking 4,645 sq.metres (50,000 sq.ft.) for a 15 year lease. It will be operational in the second quarter of 2012.