Property To House 938,500 Sq Ft National Distribution Centre For Waitrose

National law firm Irwin Mitchell’s Real Estate Team has advised key client Gazeley on the sale and forward funding of its latest warehouse development at Magna Park, Milton Keynes to Legal & General Property for a price of £114 million.

The property which is currently in the course of construction using Gazeley’s G Track fast delivery programme will house a 938,500 square foot national distribution centre for Waitrose Limited. Practical completion is expected in November 2014 when Waitrose will enter into a 30 year lease of the premises. Once constructed, the unit will be the size of 12 premiership football pitches and could accommodate 75 million 200g Cadbury’s dairy milk chocolate bars unwrapped and laid side by side & on top of each other.

Magna Park, Milton Keynes is Gazeley’s flagship UK logistics and distribution park Magna Park in Milton Keynes. This transaction follows on from Gazeley’s development and sale last August of a 670,000 square foot distribution centre at Magna Park for Waitrose’s parent company, John Lewis plc and sale to Aviva Investors for more than £74 million. Following completion, the John Lewis group will occupy three units on the estate, together with the River Island group and soft drinks manufacturer, AG Barr.

The Irwin Mitchell team was led by newly promoted real estate partner Louise Cartwright, assisted by Emma McPeake. Partner David Parton advised on construction, assisted by Vanessa Greaves. The team has also worked on all other deals to date at Magna Park. Jane Edwarde and Oliver Moir of Slaughter and May advised Legal and General.

Gazeley is a leading global investor and developer of sustainable logistics warehouses and distribution parks. This week, Gazeley was rebranded as IDI Gazeley by parent company Brookfield who also acquired logistics developer Industrial Developments International in 2013 to create a global logistics platform.