A Coventry-based property group which has recently sold a major retail business park believes the city is a growing target for major investors.
James Davies, managing director of the Wigley Group – a commercial property, risk and construction company – believes the company’s recent £5 million sale of Vantage Park to a property trust is a sign of things to come for the city and the wider region.
Wigley sold the development of four units totalling, 25,000 sq ft, which is let to Magnet, Formula One Autocentres and Adrenaline Motorcycles, to Schroders’ Multi-Let Industrial Property Unit Trust.
His company, which has been based in Coventry and Warwickshire for more than 50 years, is now constructing speculative developments in the city and believes a number of factors are enticing major funds to look more closely at the city.
He said:
There is no question that Coventry is proving an attractive proposition to investors and there are a number of reasons.
The success of Jaguar Land Rover and the manufacturing and engineering sector has clearly had an impact on demand in recent times and there has been increasing take-up and growing market confidence in and around the city.
We have healthy interest in the two units we have speculatively developed at the Henley Road Industrial Estate and are confident they will attract tenants in the near future.
Several other major developments – such as the new UK Battery Industrialisation Centre and Meggitt’s new £120 million campus at Ansty – have not only meant that developments are being brought forward on key sites but also it has raised the profile of the city and county as a desirable location.
When you then add that to the profile the city has gained through winning City of Culture 2021, it is started to change perceptions on a national level and that is being heard among the financial investment community.
That confidence has prompted the Wigley Group to join the Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership at the world’s biggest property investment and development show in March.
They will be one of around 20 companies and organisations representing the area at the show – which attracts around 30,000 delegates – in France.
Davies added:
We are working closely with a number of different public bodies as well as private companies and we want to attract more projects to feed our development pipeline.
I think it is fair to say that the positive landscape in Coventry, Warwickshire and the West Midlands has encouraged us to take that step and invest the time and money to have a meaningful presence at MIPIM.
Coventry and Warwickshire has been to the event for more than 20 years, and not only do we want to support that presence to continue to grow its profile, we believe there are real opportunities for us to win new work.
Caption: James Davies (far right) at the company’s development with (left to right), Robert Wigley, Rob Watts, James Brookes and James Davies.