About

HMG acquired Flintshire Retail Park in 2004 for a price of £13m (total over a number of years). Development costs wer £3.6m, with a view to undertaking a series of asset management initiatives and hold the property long term to provide a secure income stream for the company.

Project Description

Flintshire Retail Park extends to approximately 156,000 sq ft of open A1 retail Warehouse space and has excellent car parking provision with vehicle movements of approximately 35,000 per week. The retail park has representation from B&M, Home Bargains and Sports Direct and has the only Sainsburys food store in the county. The retail park serves a large catchment area in North Wales and effectively serves as Flint’s town centre offer.

As the retail warehousing market has undergone significant changes during the two decades of ownership, HMG have been required to be flexible in its strategic approach to the scheme pursuing high impact refurbishments and developments and adapting proactively to market shifts as follows

In 2020, HMG completed an extension to the scheme providing a further 40,000 sq ft of retail warehousing to suit modern operator requirements. Home Bargains were already trading at the retail park in an outdated and undersized property of c.10,000 sq ft and had a requirement to upsize in order to optimise trade at the location. Recognising the retailers pull as an anchor to the park, HMG agreed a surrender of their unit and developed a new 25,000 sq ft unit to ensure Home Bargains remained at the park long term. As part of the new development, HMG were able to secure Iceland Food Warehouse on a 10 year lease in a 11,000 sq ft unit, as well as letting two smaller units of 1,500 sq ft to Greggs and Card Factory, securing 4 new national operators at the park.

Following the success and evident pent-up demand for smaller 1,500 sq ft units, HMG reconfigured the 10,000 sq ft unit which had been vacated following Home Bargains upsize, securing lettings with Dominos, Costa, The E-Cig Store and Banana Bens, a regional children’s play centre, at a significant uplift from the estimated rental value should the 10,000 sq ft be let in its entirety. During this period, a parade of the retail park had become vacant following the departure of Argos (who consolidated their retail offer into the on site Sainsburys store by whom they had recently been acquired), and Topps Tiles. The Original Factory Group had also gone into a CVA which meant that HMG could gain vacant possession of their adjacent property should they desire.

Following viability assessments of rental values, likely yield compression for alternative uses, and failed attempts to secure a discount food retailer for the near 25,000 sq ft, HMG speculatively repurposed 15,000 sq ft of the retail space to create a new trade counter scheme to meet demand from the sector. The works included a complete rebranding exercise for this section of the scheme to Flint Trade Zone, external elevation redecoration and signage. City Electrical Factors committed to a 15 year lease in 2024 and HMG are in advanced discussions with a number of national trade counter operators for the remaining space.

The property was most recently revalued at £19.45m