FirethornTrust has acquired a 24.5 acre freehold development site near Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, marking its continued march into the logistics/industrial sector. The private property company has acquired Phases Two and Three of Apex Park from Pears Property in an off-market transaction.
Apex Park is a new logistics/industrial park near the M1 and phases two and three have outline planning consent for c.460,000 sq ft of institutional grade mid-box logistics/industrial space and ancillary office accommodation.
FirethornTrust plans to bring the entirety of both phases forward speculatively, and aims to begin development once detailed planning consent is achieved. Units will range from 12,000 sq ft to 130,000 sq ft and can be delivered for occupiers within 12 months.
Peter Mather, partner at FirethornTrust, said: “This acquisition is in line with our current strategy to focus on delivering institutional grade mid-box logistics/industrial schemes into tightly supplied markets across the UK. We have a very strong focus on sustainability, and we’ll make sure this is reflected in our procurement and delivery of all development schemes. From a standing start we now have a logistics/industrial development pipeline of c.800,000 sq ft and we will continue to increase our exposure to this growth sector.”
FirethornTrust is a private property company with a core focus on developing institutional quality ‘midbox’ logistics assets throughout the UK, as well as seeking opportunistic investment and development projects.
FirethornTrust was advised by Knight Frank and Stephenson Harwood, while the vendor, Pears Property, was represented by DTRE and Kirkby Diamond.
