Former Bird Stevens factory sold to self-storage firm for more than £1.25m
A former Black Country factory has been sold for more than £1.25 million to become warehousing for a self-storage business looking to expand in the Midlands.
The Sun Works in Quarry Bank had been empty since engineering firm Bird Stevens went into administration two years ago with the loss of around 50 jobs.
The century old presswork, welding and assembly firm had been based at the site since it was founded. But the Sun Street building is now to get a fresh lease of life with new owners Safestore, one of the UK's biggest self-storage businesses.
Safestore has already secured planning permission from Dudley Council to demolish the old Bird Stevens factory buildings and replace them with the self-storage unit and new access from the road.
Property agents Harris Lamb handled the sale and said there had been high levels of interest in the 43,000 sq ft site from potential buyers.
Charles D’Auncey, director of the business’s agency team, said: “The well documented shortage of industrial stock in the region meant that we very quickly had a lot of enquiries about the site.
“Its location, a highly prominent site at the junction of Quarry Bank and Merry Hill Road close to Merry Hill shopping centre meant it offered fantastic logistics links and with the site being suitable for a number of uses, subject to planning, interest was not limited to manufacturers and distributors.
“Within a few weeks, we put out a call for best bids, with Safestore paying in excess of the £1.25m asking price to secure the premises,” he said.
He said that Safestore, which currently operates 119 UK-wide locations, planned to convert the warehouse into a storage solution to enable businesses, students and households to keep valuables and belongings in secure, CCTV-protected units until they are required, on a short or long-term basis
Mr D'Auncey added: “The business wanted to expand the number of storage opportunities within the West Midlands. The easy-to-reach location made Sun Works a perfect site for a prime Black Country operation.”
