Churchmanor Estates Company plc is working on two exciting developments in the first quarter of 2022.
Stane Retail Park
The £70m Stane Retail Park in Tollgate, Colchester, is now complete, and is believed to be the only major new retail park speculatively funded and constructed entirely during the Covid-19 pandemic period.
Churchmanor commenced construction of the 173,000sq ft scheme in September 2020 and at that time entered into a forward commitment to sell the first phase of the Park pre-lets to B&Q and Aldi to Uttlesford District Council.
The remaining 73,000sq ft was built speculatively with M&S taking a 20,000sq ft Food Hall. Lettings have also completed with Cook and Greggs for the kiosk units, and two further retail units are under offer, leaving 16,000sq ft remaining in either one or more units.
The scheme benefits from planning consent for open retail non-food uses, and to install trading mezzanine floors.
Emma Proctor King, head of communications, said: “Our 20 acre site is ideally situated in Tollgate on junction 26 of the A12 and is directly opposite a 140,000sq ft Sainsburys store, which is one of its top performers in the UK.”
Matt Cloke, development director, added: “The trading performance of the B&Q and Aldi has also consistently exceeded all expectations since opening in late 2021, reinforcing the strength of the location.
“We believe our commitment to build the scheme speculatively has been vindicated by the lettings we have subsequently entered into and, following completion of our scheme and the outstanding developments in Tollgate, this will mean that the Tollgate area will become one of the top 10 retail clusters in the UK.”
Suffolk Business Park
As the developer of Suffolk Business Park, in Bury St Edmunds, Churchmanor Estates is also working on the next phase and has submitted a detailed planning application to West Suffolk Council for the first phase of a leisure quarter on the 57-acre business park.
This new and exciting scheme for Zone 2 of the park is designed in keeping with the high quality design and landscaping of the rest of Suffolk Business Park and, if granted, will be home to a 3,832sq ft McDonalds and 1,872sq ft for a coffee operator.
The two restaurants between them will generate in the region of 135 new full and part time jobs for local people and will be located opposite a new BP petrol filling station which is shortly commencing construction.
Mr Cloke said: “We are very pleased to be bringing forward this phase of the development of the Suffolk Business Park restaurant and leisure quarter. It will not only serve the occupiers of the business park but will also enable residents of Bury St Edmunds to be able to locally access these iconic brands in a drive-thru format for the first time.”
A spokesperson from McDonalds said: “We are really excited to be progressing with this application and believe a new McDonald’s restaurant would bring significant investment to the local community of Bury St Edmunds, as well as create at least 120 new jobs.”
Ms Proctor King said: “Suffolk Business Park is an exciting new gateway development at junction 45 of the A14 in Bury St Edmunds. The park provides the opportunity for the development of new, strategically-located employment units of a variety of sizes, and benefits from major infrastructure improvements including the new Eastern Relief Road.”
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