Former Avison Young agents launch new advisory firm
Eight former Avison Young agents have today launched a new advisory firm specialising in retail warehousing.
Park Place Retail will advise across the out-of-town retail, food store, and leisure sectors.
Having worked together for 15 years, both at Wilkinson Williams and during the last five years at Avison Young, the team has advised on scores of prominent investment and leasing deals over the past two decades.
The founding partners comprise Miles Marten, Paul Wilkinson, and Ellie Kirkby in the investment team, whilst James Potter, David Marsden, Andy Cherry, Grant Imlah, and George Stratton make up the agency team.
Miles Marten, managing partner, said: ‘”I am hugely excited to be working alongside this team of highly motivated and ambitious individuals. Despite the challenging market environment, we believe there’s a real opportunity for us to provide our clients with best in class advice, given the breadth of knowledge and experience between us all.”
Park Place Retail’s landlord clients include BlackRock, British Land, CBRE IM, Columbia Threadneedle, Landsec, LaSalle, Legal & General, Nuveen Real Estate, Royal London, Savills IM, and The Crown Estate.
The firm’s list of occupier clients includes Carpetright, Currys, Halfords, Hobbycraft, and JD Sports.
Marten added: “The retail warehouse market has proven itself to be incredibly resilient through recessions and the pandemic, and we believe the sector will continue to be favoured by investors and occupiers alike. We feel there has never been a better time to pull together as a team and harness the knowledge we have, and the opportunity of creating a smaller bespoke firm again gives us the unique ability to be entirely focused on our clients and their needs.
“Our ambition is to become the market leaders in the out-of-town retail market once again. We aim to provide our clients with outstanding service, combining the best resources of the big firms, with the knowledge and expertise of the niche practices. Many clients have already welcomed the idea and support for the firm, meaning we can hit the ground running on day one, having retained our existing major landlord clients, alongside the national retailers who we have acted for many years.”
The firm’s name comes from Park Place in St James, London, where Wilkinson Williams opened its first permanent office in the 1990s.