Aire Valley Land LLP exchanges major contracts for over 40 acres of Leeds industrial site

The Aire Valley Land LLP has exchanged contracts to PLP for the sale of 43 acres of commercial development land at its Gateway 45 Leeds site.

The site is set to be acquired by PLP’s flagship investment vehicle, the PLP UK Logistics Venture (UKLV), owned by majority investor Ivanhoé Cambridge.

This will be alongside Peel Group, MIRA Real Estate and PLP management.

Jeremy Greenland, CEO of PLP, said: “We are very excited about this acquisition, which provides a clear opportunity for PLP to deliver high quality logistics space in a variety of configurations for occupiers.

“Beyond this and our other three recent acquisitions, we continue to look for prime logistics developments and assets in key markets.”

This acquisition supposedly complements other recent purchases by PLP at Sheffield, Crewe and Knowsley which will take the value of UKLV’s Assets Under Management (AUM) to around £500m on a completed basis.

PLP will now work with AVL LLP to begin earthworks and on and off-site infrastructure, alongside the submission of a reserved matters planning application to Leeds City Council for around 850,000 sq ft of industrial and distribution space across four units.

Subject to planning, work will begin on constructing these new units during summer 2020.

PLP’s deal follows AVL LLP selling an adjacent 10 acres of land this month to the University of Leeds for the development of its Institute for High Speed Rail and System Integration.

The Gateway 45 site is adjacent to Junction 45 of the M1 that extends to 166 acres and has outline planning consent for 2.64 million sq ft of commercial space.

Aire Valley Land LLP has spent four years preparing the site for development following its designation as an Enterprise Zone.

This includes completing a £7.5m infrastructure and ground works programme using a loan facility from the Leeds City Region LEP and grant from DCLG.

James Pitt, development director at Evans Property Group, added: “This is an excellent outcome for all concerned which will deliver a significant proportion of the jobs promised when the Enterprise Zone was initially created.

“AVL LLP’s focus now is to assist PLP to get on-site as quickly as possible so that thousands of new jobs can be delivered for the City Region to benefit from.”

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