100 jobs will be created at new retail site

Opus North, the Ilkley-based property development and investment company, has been given permission to turn a derelict four-acre site in Armley, Leeds, into a retail park.

Leeds City councillors have given the green light to plans to develop the site, which was previously occupied by DENSO Marston, the thermal cooling systems manufacturer. The scheme is expected to create 100 jobs.

Building work on the £8.5m retail park will begin in the summer, and it is scheduled to open in spring next year. A number of national retailers are already lined up as tenants.

The site in Armley, which has been empty for more than 20 years, had been branded an eyesore by local residents and councillors. DENSO Marston moved its premises to Shipley, near Bradford, in the 1990s.

The Armley scheme is the latest in a number of developments being brought to the market by Opus. Opus was also recently granted permission for a £6.5m retail park in Skipton, North Yorkshire. The development, featuring a Wickes DIY store, a Pets at Home and other high-profile retailers, together with a 100-space car park, will be built on part of the site of the Guyson’s International factory on Keighley Road.

Andrew Duncan, the managing director of Opus North, said: “These sizeable investments in Armley and Skipton will bring more jobs to the area and more choice to shoppers. They are major boosts to the local economy.”

Mr Duncan said Opus North had been taking advantage of the renewed economic confidence.

He added: “We have been incredibly busy, busier even than in the boom times before 2008. The new confidence in the economy means that deals can be done, provided the location, the building and the price, for both leasing and buying, are right. The go-ahead for our Armley and Skipton development means that we have received outline planning permission for seven new developments during the past 12 months, worth a combined total of £85m.

Other multi-million pound projects are now underway at Darlington, Morecambe, Aberystwyth, Runcorn and Llandudno.

“We are especially pleased that our developments focus on all sectors of the commercial property market, from office to industrial and retail, underline our breadth of experience and expertise. Our long-term developments now boast a healthy rent roll and are almost full, while our new schemes are attracting household names as tenants and occupiers.”

Opus North is funded by Palmer Capital, the venture capital and fund manager which specialises in property.

In Darlington, the company has received planning permission for a £10m retail park in Albert Road. It will create 150 jobs in Darlington, and it is expected to open by the end of this year. The scheme is anchored by Aldi alongside a number of national retailers. Plans for a £17m retail and leisure park in Morecambe have also been given the go-ahead. Opus North is building a 100,000 sq ft complex of shops, a hotel, restaurants, a family pub and 376 parking spaces on the former 10-acre Frontierland fairground site at Morecambe Bay.

The new Bay Shopping Park, which is next to a 70,000 sq ft Morrison’s store, will create 500 jobs and fill the site on Morecambe Promenade. It will transform the long-derelict site, and provide retail space that will help to stimulate economic activity on the coast. Mr Duncan revealed that several well-known stores were interested in coming to the new retail and leisure park.

“We are proud to be bringing forward major investment in a well-known but disused site,” said Mr Duncan. “It is our intention to create a lasting legacy of jobs and investment for Morecambe.”