HBD agrees York sale to McCarthy Stone

Henry Boot’s development arm will trade a two-acre development site at the Chocolate Works to the retirement living provider.

HBD and McCarthy Stone entered a partnership in 2019 and have subsequently promoted the site through the planning process together, achieving consent on appeal in March for a 72-home retirement living ‘plus’ scheme.

With a conditional sale now agreed, HBD will work with McCarthy Stone to finish preparing the site for development, in line with its remaining contractual obligations, which is anticipated to complete in Q4 2024.

McCarthy Stone will solely lead on the development of the purpose-built retirement accommodation.

The retirement community marks the final phase of HBD’s 27 acre development, which included the transformation of the former 160,000 sq ft Terry’s chocolate factory into 163 apartments, delivering a total GDV of £110m across seven schemes over the last decade.

The wider site is also now home to the Brainkind neurological centre, which supports people recovering from complex brain injuries.

Tim Roberts, chief executive of Henry Boot, said: “Securing planning permission and agreeing the sale to McCarthy Stone of the last remaining land site at The Chocolate Works will bring much needed retirement living in York, helping address the huge demand for specialist retirement accommodation that exists right across the country.

“By adding retirement accommodation, which will also offer tailored levels of care, alongside the residential and other uses we have developed at the site, helps achieve our goal of creating a deep and multi-generational community at this transformed former factory. In addition, it brings HBD’s award winning work on this significant project to a close while representing a strong outcome for our shareholders.”

At the firm’s AGM today, Roberts said that the firm has started the year well, with the Hallam land business being particularly busy. He said: “We have begun the year well, trading in line with market expectations and continuing to crystalise profits from both land sales and delivering prime development and premium homes.

“We have started to see signs that the economy has turned a corner, with inflation falling and interest rates likely to fall, which has improved sentiment in our three key markets. Whilst we expect our performance to be heavily weighted to H2 24, as flagged at our results in March, our focus on high quality land and development in prime locations, along with a renewed banking facility, leaves the Group in a position to deliver full year performance as expected.”