Deal agreed for huge Leeds development site

A 43-acre plot of commercial development land at a prominent site in Leeds is set to change hands in one of the largest commercial transactions in the UK in 2019.The Aire Valley Land LLP (AVL), a joint venture between Harworth Group plc and Evans Property Group, has exchanged contracts for the sale of land at its Gateway 45 Leeds site to PLP.The site will be acquired by PLP’s flagship investment vehicle, the PLP UK Logistics Venture (UKLV), which is owned by majority investor Ivanhoé Cambridge alongside Peel Group, MIRA Real Estate and PLP management.PLP will now work with AVL to begin earthworks and on- and off-site infrastructure, alongside the submission of a reserved matters planning application to Leeds City Council for about 850,000 sq ft of industrial and distribution space across four units. Subject to planning, work will begin on constructing these new units in summer 2020. PLP has recently acquired sites in Sheffield, Crewe and Knowsley, taking the value of UKLV’s assets under management (AUM) to about £500m on a completed basis.Earlier this month (April 2019), AVL sold an adjacent ten-acre plot of land to the University of Leeds for the development of its Institute for High Speed Rail and System Integration.