Adroit Real Estate Advisors has let three refurbished warehouse units at Trade City Luton, Bedfordshire, totalling 12,424 sqft, all to occupiers new to the Luton and Dunstable area. Acting jointly with JLL on behalf of Tritax, Adroit has let Unit 5 (5,282 sqft) to Lithia and Unit 2 (3,022 sqft) to Sisco Foods, while JLL secured DV Supplies for Unit 3 (4,120 sqft).

Lithia is opening a new Trade Parts Specialist (TPS) branch at Unit 5, distributing Volkswagen spare parts. London-based DV Supplies and Radlett-based Sisco Foods are also new to the town.

Dan Jackson, Director, noted: “We’ve had a flurry of activity in recent weeks. The landlord has worked really hard to make sure that, as the units become vacant, they are refurbished and ready to let quickly. As part of that specification, the landlord has added motion-sensitive LED lighting, small offices and even toilets where necessary. It’s nice to see that all of these deals are bringing new occupiers to the area, and we know from our in-house statistics that half of the take-up locally is from companies locating into Luton and Dunstable. They clearly recognise the appeal of Luton as a commercial location and the value it offers relative to more expensive locations closer to London and the M25.”

Trade City sits on Kingsway in the established Dallow Road industrial area, midway between Luton town centre and Junction 11 of the M1. The scheme overlooks Hatters Way, one of the main routes into the town centre, which carries up to 25,000 vehicles a day. The area is a recognised trade counter location, with neighbouring occupiers including Travis Perkins, Screwfix, Edmundson Electrical and B&Q. Dnata, Premier Exports and Fulton Umbrellas anchor the scheme, each occupying one of the larger units. 

Units 1 to 3 at Trade City were returned by a single previous occupier in August. With Units 2 and 3 now let and Unit 1 (3,754 sqft) under offer, all three are expected to be relet less than three months later. Elsewhere on the scheme, Unit 8 (5,733 sqft) is available now and Unit 6 (5,911 sqft) is expected to come to the market shortly. Adroit and JLL are joint agents on the remaining space.

Industrial and warehouse take-up across Luton and Dunstable totalled 490,000 sqft to the end of Q3. With a number of further deals under offer across the market, Adroit expects total take-up for the year to finish at or above the average of recent years, at approximately 550,000 sqft.

Other recent Adroit lettings locally include Vision44 and the adjoining Unit 2 at Woodside Industrial Estate, Dunstable (73,806 sqft combined) to Nutrition Geeks on behalf of Legal & General, and Unit 1 Walter Lawrence Trading Estate, Dunstable (10,497 sqft) to Howdens.