Commercial property specialists at Colliers International’s Bristol office with joint agent GVA have signed off the biggest warehouse deal in years at Cabot Park in Avonmouth.
Yankee Candle has taken the 170,000 square foot 4mation unit which has been vacant for the past two years.
Head of the Colliers Bristol office Tim Davies said it was one of the biggest deals in a decade.
He said: “The Yankee Candle deal will reinvigorate industrial take up in the West – which has been increasingly dominated by smaller deals in the 5-10,000 sq ft category.
“Avonmouth is one of the leading distribution hubs in the country ticking all the boxes for national firms looking to re-locate.
“We are seeing many national firms – especially in the expanding e-retailing market – returning to the industrial sector to ensure they have adequate logistical support to deal with a widely forecast return of consumer confidence.”
Major manufacturing and distribution occupiers in Avonmouth include Robert Wiseman Dairies, Superdrug, Honda, Keuhne and Nagel, Accolade Wines, John Lewis, Avon & Somerset Police and DSV.
Colliers International and joint letting agents GVA acted on behalf of Standard Life, achieving a rent of £6 per sq ft on a new 15 year lease.
Paul Hobbs of GVA said: “ Remarkably, this was one of only two newly built units standing over 20,000 sq ft south of Birmingham. With this building committed, we all hope that the outcome will be a resurgence of the design and build market offering opportunities for many supply businesses in this region.
“Severnside is a radically different place from 10 years ago and will be a major development hotspot for the UK in the next five years.”
Yankee Candle – who were advised by Williams Gunter Hardwick -is the world’s leading manufacturer of home fragrancing products with specialist knowledge of the retail sale of its products both in store and online.
Malcolm Gunter from Williams Gunter Hardwick said: “The fact Yankee Candle is more than doubling the floorspace in its current North Bristol base speaks for itself.
“It is a very successful company and a large part of its business is online.”
Yankee Candle will use the Avonmouth base as its national distribution centre and is planning to add a further 7,500 sq ft to the existing 6,000 sq ft of office space.
4mation is strategically located less than two miles from Junction 18/18a of the M5/M49 and 10 miles from the M4/M5 interchange. It provides a premier location with easy access to key markets between London, Wales, Birmingham and the South West.
