Tritax Big Box REIT (Tritax) has announced that it has exchanged contracts (conditional on receiving planning consent) to provide forward funding for the development of two new distribution warehouse facilities at Warth Park, Raunds. The two facilities are pre-let in their entirety under two separate leases to Howdens Joinery Group Plc (Howdens) and the investment price is £101.8 million, reflects a net initial yield of 5.1% (net of land acquisition costs). Tritax says that, upon practical completion of the construction, targeted for August 2018, both properties will be leased to Howdens on two new 30 year leases, subject to five yearly upward only open market rent reviews. The two distribution facilities, which will stand adjacent to one another and to the Company’s existing Howdens facility, are under separate freehold titles and Tritax says that they will be completed to a high specification with gross internal floor areas of 657,000 square feet and 300,000 square feet, respectively. Both buildings are to have an eaves height of 15 metres, extensive offices and a combined site cover of approximately 53%.
Warth Park, at Raunds, Northamptonshire is located on the A45 corridor close to Junction 13 of the A14, which provides access to the ports of Felixstowe and Harwich and also directly links to the A1(M) dual carriageway and the M1 motorway. The site is currently host to two logistics facilities recently acquired by the Company let to Whirlpool and Howdens; other notable nearby distribution facility occupiers include Homebase, Morrisons and Primark at Wellingborough, Northampton and Thrapston respectively.
The development is to be undertaken by Roxhill, which Tritax says successfully delivered the previous Howdens facility on time and on budget. The land purchase will be funded by Tritax from equity proceeds, with senior debt finance to be introduced in the near term.
Colin Godfrey, Partner of says that the 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. It represents the company’s ninth and tenth pre-let forward funded development and brings the total portfolio to 37 assets.
Tritax Big Box REIT to forward fund two new Howdens distribution facilities at Warth Park, Northamptonshire : BBOX