Nom Nom: How The Logistics Business Gobbled 238 Acres In Leicestershire

Two months ago IM Properties' 238 acre Leicestershire scheme was no more than a good logistics property bet.

Today, every one of those acres at the picturesquely named Appleby Magna has been taken, as occupier's appetite for Midlands warehouse floorspace grows.

The site at junction 11 of the M42 motorway provides a lesson for the logistics property sector: famine to feast in 60 days. The moral of the story is that a big enough, flat enough, central enough Golden Triangle site is pretty much a dead certainty in today's market.

IM Properties signed Jaguar Land Rover to take a new 2.94M SF Global Parts Logistics campus on the Leicestershire site.

Now IM has disposed of the final 27 acres in a deal with Danish freight forwarding business DSV. The mail handler will occupy 450K SF.

The deal comes as JLL reported a strong Q3 for the UK’s industrial and logistics sector, with big-box take-up reaching more than 6.6M SF. Cushman & Wakefield said Q3 take-up is 15% above the same period last year.

“DSV is another major international occupier for the employment park and north west Leicestershire," IM Properties Development Director Kevin Ashfield said. "Its interest in the site came after a lengthy search process and will enable it to grow its business in the region and become a significant site within its global network.

"The fact that virtually the whole park is now committed ahead of any formal marketing illustrates the strength and quality of the location and the demand for large scale sites in the region."

DSV is aiming to build on the success of its existing plant at Kingsbury, near Tamworth, creating a hub for its UK road, air and sea and contract logistics operations.