International retailer groups Inditex and Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) have agreed distribution warehouse deals totalling 225,000 m2 in the Netherlands.
For the first time, Inditex, the Spanish parent company of fashion brands such as Zara and Pull & Bear, is developing and building a distribution centre outside of Spain.
The new 170,000 m2 facility in Lelystad, located about 60 km northeast from Amsterdam, will complement Inditex's Central Logistics Platforms in Spain that supplies stores across Europe. Inditex said it needed a distribution hub in the heart of Europe to support the group's growth expectations. Lelystad is seen as having the ideal combination of high-quality physical and digital infrastructure by the retail group.
Inditex owns the retail brands Zara, Pull & Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home and Uterqüe. The group sells fashion and shoes via a network of 7,292 stores in 93 countries around the world.
Lelystad Airport Business Park
The new centre is being developed on 35-hectare land plot at Lelystad Airport Business Park (LAB). The initial cost of the project is €100 mln.
Inditex and LAB signed an agreement in early May. 'Inditex will own the property, and development and construction will be carried out as much as possible with Spanish partners,' Rob Verhoeff, director of LAB, told PropertyNL, the Dutch-language sister publication of PropertyEU. Dutch real estate firm Denc is also an adviser to Inditex on the project, while CBRE advised Inditex in the transaction.
Inditex explored the possibility of locating the warehouse in one of the large Dutch distribution hubs of Venlo, Eindhoven and Tilburg. 'Eventually Inditex settled on Lelystad, a location near (Amsterdam) Schiphol Airport, Rotterdam and the western urban belt. In addition, the labour market in Lelystad is not as tight as in other areas, and there will be more than sufficient staff available for this facility,' Verhoeff added.
The LEED Gold-certified distribution centre is scheduled to open in early 2019 and be fully operational by the following year. Initially, 400 people will be employed at the facility and this could double depending on market developments. A further incentive is that Lelystad Airport, which is twinned with Schiphol, will operating passenger flights in April 2019.
LAB is a joint development of the municipalities of Lelystad and Almere, and the province of Flevoland.
Hudson's Bay Company
Separately, HBC, the Canadian department store group, has chosen a logistics warehouse in the town of Mijdrecht as the first of 10 locations to supply its growing retail store network and online sales in the Netherlands. Mijdrecht is located within easy reach for the four main cities, Amsterdam, The Hague and Utrecht and Rotterdam.
HBC entered the Netherlands in May 2016 and announced plans to open 20 stores in the country over a two-year period.
The Canadian group has now signed a lease agreement with HB Capital to full occupy a 55,000 m2 distribution centre in Mijdrecht. The property, formally used by Dutch retail chain Blokker, incorporates office and warehouse spaces, as well as parking. HB Capital is an investment firm owned by the Blokker family.
CBRE advised HB Capital in the leasing transaction.
