East London industrial site snapped up for £100m
Global real estate investment company Kennedy Wilson has bought an east London industrial park for £100m.
Kennedy Wilson plans to create a set of 10 sustainable industrial units and double the current warehousing space to 135,000 sq ft.
“This transaction represent[s] a rare opportunity to acquire a highly desirable industrial scheme in a location with strong underlying fundamentals,” said Mike Pegler, President, Kennedy Wilson Europe.
“We are always looking for opportunities to invest capital into industrial assets in thriving urban locations and this is particularly attractive where schemes, such as Bromley-by-Bow, will offer leading sustainability credentials to its future occupants,” Pegler added.
It’s one of only two industrial sites in Tower Hamlets, and is the most centrally located, undeveloped large-scale site of its kind in London, according to the developer Fabrix.
London’s industrial market boomed with the online shopping boom during the pandemic, with retailers increasing their warehouse space to manage orders and ship out more stock.
But high inflation, a squeeze on living costs and high input costs for businesses caused the market to slump in 2022.
Wilson plans to market the site predominantly to companies operating in ‘last mile’ delivery i.e. the movement of goods from a distribution centre to the end customer, but said the site was “expected to be attractive to a range of future occupiers”.
“Fabrix’s consented scheme for the regeneration of Bromley-by-Bow Industrial Park is a project that will deliver super prime-quality space for ultra urban industrial and logistics uses, and secure genuine benefits for the community in Tower Hamlets,” Louis Duffield, Partner and Head of Investment at Fabrix, said.
Kennedy Wilson’s UK industrial platform now totals nearly 9m sq ft, with an value of £1.25bn.