First tenant for Merchant Gate offices
The first tenant has been signed-up for office space at a multi-million pound development in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
Leading pawnbroker Albemarle & Bond plc has agreed to a 15-year lease for 10,000 sq ft of floor space at Number 2 Burgage Square, Merchant Gate.
Merchant Gate is a speculative development by English Cities Fund (ECF) offering a mix of commercial and civic office space, alongside residential property and retail units. It was announced last October that Morgan Sindall had been awarded a £14.8m contract to construct new offices for Wakefield District Council.
Numbers 1 and 2 Burgage Square are 3-storey office buildings offering Grade A rated floor space of 17,300 sq ft and 19,600 sq ft respectively. Quoted headline rental prices are £16.50 / sq ft. Albemarle & Bond have taken the top floor of 2 Burgage Square and are to centralise their administration functions from existing offices in Leeds and Wakefield.
Emma Cordingley, development director for ECF, said: “Having Albemarle and Bond as the first commercial tenant at Merchant Gate is a really significant development for the scheme.”
Situated opposite Westgate railway station on a 17-acre site, the mixed-use scheme will provide over 700,000 sq ft of development, including 300,000 sq ft of office accommodation. The first phase of offices offer just over 48,000 sq ft of space within 3 buildings. The buildings include leisure accommodation at ground floor level with 2 floors of offices above.
Richard Thornton, partner at marketing agent King Sturge, said: “This substantial letting is a major office deal for the city and is a significant milestone for the Merchant Gate development”.
When completed the scheme is estimated to have a development cost of approximately £140m.
This entry was posted in West Yorkshire and tagged Rental Prices, Speculative Developments, Transactions. Bookmark the permalink.