Warrington sorted as Royal Mail pulls out of Liverpool

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http://www.propertyweek.com/story.asp?s ... 127281&c=2

Postal group picks Winwick Quay for consolidated Merseyside sorting office

Royal Mail has completed a controversial departure from Liverpool by selecting Warrington for its consolidated Merseyside sorting office.

The postal service has decided to take 179,000 sq ft at South 62 in Winwick Quay.Agent WHR conducted the search for Royal Mail, which will pay around £3.75/sq ft on a 10-year lease for the warehouse, which is owned by F&C REIT. The new depot occupies an 11 acre site suitable for handling the tenant’s fleet of delivery vans and expansion of premises if necessary.

Liverpool City Council and urban regeneration company Liverpool Vision had fought to retain the employer in the city, after it announced the closure of the Copperas Hill depot as part of a UK-wide cost-cutting programme.

Royal Mail plans to close five sorting offices in the north-west by 2010 by switching processes to Warrington. The decision will lead to the loss of 600 jobs, and leave Liverpool as the only big UK city without its own sorting office.

Jason Print, an associate at Cushman & Wakefield who acted for F&C Reit, refused to confirm Winwick Quay’s new occupier, but said: ‘This is the second-largest industrial deal to have been completed in the north-west market this year and follows on the back of the Pioneer 210 deal that we completed a few weeks earlier.

‘We were pleased to have secured an occupier less than nine months after being instructed to market the building, which proves that there are a few rays of sunshine in this perceived gloomy market.’

Goodman let the 210,000 sq ft Pioneer 210 at Ellesmere Port to German packaging group Prowell last month on a 15-year lease at £4.25/sq ft.

Liverpool Vision is understood to be in talks with Royal Mail over buying Copperas Hill. The URC wants the land to help link the city centre with Liverpool University’s campus.

The purchase would be followed by a development brief, funded by the Northwest Development Agency. Talks are at an early stage.

Royal Mail may seek a smaller site in or around Liverpool city centre to handle local distribution after Copperas Hill closes. The site would need 15,000 sq ft of premises with parking, and a further 1 acre for storage and distribution handling.

WHR advises Royal Mail; DTZ was the joint letting agent with Cushman & Wakefield.