Tritax Big Box REIT has completed contracts for the forward-funded development of a new logistics fulfilment center in the United Kingdom, located at Integra 61, near Durham, and pre-let to a financially robust world-leading retailer. The price represents a maximum commitment of £147.3 million ($186.65 million).
The development will comprise a new prime, state-of-the art, purpose-built facility, with a gross internal floor area of 1.99 million square feet inclusive of three structural mezzanine floors.
This high-specification facility will be cross-docked with an eaves height of over 20 meters (66 feet). The property will also benefit from significant capital investment by the occupier, including high levels of automation.
The site has excellent road connectivity with direct access onto Junction 61 of the A1(M) and is also easily accessible by air or rail, being located close to Durham Tees Valley Airport, Newcastle International Airport and Durham railway station. The location is also near to the ports of Tees, Hartlepool, Sunderland and Tyne. The area benefits from an appropriately skilled and flexible labor supply within close proximity, which underpins the appeal of the area as an increasingly important U.K. distribution location.
Upon practical completion of the construction, targeted for summer 2020, the occupier will take up a new 20-year lease, subject to five yearly upward-only rent reviews indexed to the Consumer Prices Index (collared at 1 percent pa and capped at 3 percent pa). During the
construction phase, the company will receive an income return equivalent to the annual rent from the developer.
This investment will be delivered in collaboration with the occupier and the Citrus Group, which will also be developing the remainder of the 200-acre Integra 61 project.
