Leicestershire former aircraft manufacturing site up for grabs

Leicestershire’s Rearsby Business Park, alongside development land, has hit the market. The site, to the north-east of Leicester, was formerly used for aircraft manufacturing by Auster, a part of British Leyland, but was turned into an industrial estate in 2003 after the business failed. The owners of the park, the British Leyland management buy-out team led by Ivor Vaughan, have instructed CBRE to find a buyer for the site, seeking offers over £10.25m. If sold at that price, the transaction would reflect a net initial yield of 8.56%. The park comprises 155,985 sq ft of industrial space across 15 fully let buildings, ranging in size from 791 sq ft to 50,047 sq ft. Existing occupiers on site include furniture designer Lewis & Hill, manufacturing business East Coast Fittings, mechanical engineering firm Metric Services, roofing services provider K & DE Barnett & Sons, vehicle seat distributor TEK Seating and heating solutions provider GT Plumbing. The estate is currently generating headline rent of £867,750 per year, with an average rent of £5.60 per sq ft. There is also a 33.3-acre plot of development land adjacent to the park, which has planning permission to build another 56,403 sq ft facility.  The estate sits between Leicester and Melton Mowbray, adjacent to the A607, with links to Nottingham, Coventry, Birmingham and East Midlands Airport. According to CBRE, the East Midlands saw 29.5% of the total national logistics take-up in Q1 2024, and 41.9% over the past 12 months. At the end of Q1 2024, East Midlands prime big box rents were quoted at £9.75 per sq ft. View current availabilities in Leicestershire >> Photo from CBRE