Work has started on a new trade park in Coventry which has already attracted its first national client – the UK’s biggest kitchen retailer.
Magnet has taken up the first unit at the brand new Vantage Park in the north of the city, just off the A444.
Vantage Park is being developed by Wigley Contracts (Barby) which has been behind the major regeneration of the former Albert Herbert engineering site.
The new park will feature four units from 4,000 sq ft to 12,000 sq ft – totalling 25,000 sq ft – and is aimed at trade products and services available to the public.
Magnet is the first company to sign up, opting to move into a new 12,000 sq ft purpose-built unit. Its new base will incorporate a kitchen showroom, trade counter, warehouse, offices and parking.
Mike Vining from Vining Management Ltd and Development Consultant for Wigley said: “This will be a very beneficial development for the area which has undergone considerable regeneration in recent years.
“It is fantastic to be able to welcome a firm of Magnet’s stature to the new trade park. It will provide them with a suitable showcase in this area of the city with very good transport links and car parking. They will also be a flagship operator which will help us attract other leading tenants.
“The improvements to the A444 have transformed the links from the city to the north of the city and this development uses that location to the full.”
Andy Cartlidge, head of group property and store development at Magnet, said: “We are delighted to be included in this development in such a prominent and busy location, and this will be a flagship store for us in the Midlands.”
The new trade park is the latest of several developments in the area from The Wigley Group.
It created a new northern hub for Royal Mail and sold land to Lidl for a new store, while the Signal Box pub was opened in the summer – all located on the A444 between the Gallagher Retail Park and Foleshill Road roundabouts.
James Davies, of The Wigley Group, added: “We have been developing in this area of Coventry since the mid-1980s, after gaining planning permission for Gallagher Retail Park, and have played a leading role in its regeneration. This new park is another major landmark for the area.
“We are a Coventry-based company who invest for the long-term, and that commitment has certainly allowed us to take a strategic view on the regeneration of the area.”
Construction is expected to last until next summer, and Councillor Kevin Maton, Coventry City Council Cabinet Member for Business, Enterprise and Employment, was invited to see the work start.
Vantage Park is being marketed by Bromwich Hardy and Jones Lang LaSalle.
