Member Article

Tritax Big Box signs £101.8m deal for pair of forwarded funded distribution facilities

Tritax Big Box, the London-based real estate investment trust, has announced it has exchanged contracts to provide forward funding on a pair of Northamptonshire distribution facilities.

The trust has said it will invest £101.8m in the two warehouses at Warth Park in Raunds, which in turn have both been pre-let, on two separate 30-year leases, to Howdens Joinery Group.

Howdens will move into the two distribution facilities, which boast internal floor areas of 657,000 sq ft and 300,000 sq ft, once construction has completed around August 2018.

Development of the new facilities is being headed up by Roxhill, who also oversaw the construction of Howdens previous facility.

Colin Godfrey, Partner of Tritax, commented: “We are pleased to be working with Roxhill again and investing in the second phase of Howdens’ new distribution centre, following the successful completion of the first phase which the Company also forward funded in September 2015.

“Once completed, these three facilities will provide Howdens with a ‘centre of excellence’ for its supply chain operations which is expected to deliver very significant operational and efficiency benefits.

“This investment is in an established logistics location with a strong covenant and extends the weighted average unexpired lease term of the Company’s portfolio to c.16 years. This represents our ninth and tenth pre-let forward funded development and brings our total portfolio to 37 assets.”

Warth Park currently houses distribution warehouses for both Howdens and Whirlpool, with other occupiers including Homebase, Morrisons and Primark located nearby.

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