Business park success hailed

3:53pm Monday 22nd October 2007

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A multi-million pound business park development in Keighley is now fully let, creating nearly 200 jobs in the process.

The last remaining unit at the £12 million Airedale Park has been sold for a total of £420,000 to Yorkshire Asset Management.

Developer Opus Land, which is based in Ilkley, bought the 17 acre site on Royd Ings Avenue from furniture makers Magnet in mid-2005 and has transformed it into six refurbished industrial warehouse units covering a total of 300,000 sq ft.

Andrew Duncan, director of Opus Land, said: "This has proved to be an exciting and successful development for Keighley and has provided a tremendous boost to the town's economy.

"It is great to see a proud and historic West Yorkshire town like Keighley undergoing an economic renaissance and we are delighted to be part of this".

Among the occupants of the new business park is food packaging company PFF who signed up during the summer.

PFF, whose clients include Morrisons, ASDA and Marks & Spencer, paid £2.75 million for the 93,000 sq ft refurbished factory building on the site.

Andy Bairstow, the managing director of PFF, said he was "delighted" with his company's new home He said: "The unit on Airedale Business Park has allowed us the opportunity to purchase our own building and provide us with ample space for our ambitious plans."

Lee Billborough of agents Hayfield Robinson who acted for PFF added: "We have been looking for suitable premises for some time and Airedale Park offered the size and quality of accommodation my clients were seeking".

Mike Atkinson, of commercial property agents Brackenridge Hanson Tate, paid tribute to the site saying: "The success of Airedale Park provides further evidence that the freehold industrial market in the Aire Valley is buoyant should the right product be presented."