Eastleigh Railway Works site
The former British Railway Locomotive Engineering works which was once the heart of Eastleigh, has been sold in a £20 million deal.
Key Property Investments (KPI), a joint venture between leading UK developer St. Modwen and Kuwait based Salhia Real Estate Company, has sold the works, currently a multi-let train maintenance facility, to the Corporate Pension Fund clients of Savills Investment Management LLP.
Eastleigh Works, located off Campbell Road, is a massive 47.4 acre site primarily used as a locomotive, carriage and wagon repair works and predominantly let to Arlington Fleet Services Ltd. The site comprises 506,317 sq ft of warehouse space, a three-storey office building and open storage areas.
Nick Kay, Development Director at St. Modwen said:
“Since acquiring the site in 2002, we have added significant value over the years, taking it from a vacant complex of redundant buildings to a fully occupied, well managed rail-orientated industrial estate. We will re-invest the sale proceeds to help deliver our commercial development pipeline as we rebalance our portfolio towards a high quality industrial/logistics sector.”
Lucy Winterburn, Director of Investment at Savills Investment Management, commented:
“The purchase of Eastleigh Works is a strategic industrial land acquisition for our client with a recognised heritage of rail manufacture and maintenance. We are delighted to have secured this opportunity and relish the medium term redevelopment opportunity that it presents.”
Local plan redevelopment of the Railway site to facilitate the housing crisis in Eastleigh, is this what the developers and new owners are preparing to do?