ONE of the North-East's largest business parks, the Tyne Tunnel Trading Estate, has been acquired by property investment and development company, UK Land Estates.

The estate was previously under the ownership of two separate institutional investors.

The site is at the junction of the A19 and the Coast Road in North Tyneside, immediately to the North of the entrance to the Tyne Tunnel.

At present 70 acres of the 110-acre site have been developed and contain 80 factory and office units.

These total almost one million square feet of space employing almost 700 people.

On purchase 200,000sq ft was vacant and this has already been reduced to around 100,000sq ft.

"We have bought Tyne Tunnel Estate for its development potential," said UK Land Estates managing director, Chris Whitfield.

"The second Tyne Tunnel due in 2005 will make the estate an even more desirable location for employers and distributors and will considerably increase the importance of the A19 corridor.

"The new Stephenson Transport link will passed through the estate improving access to the surrounding area."

Mr Whitfield added: "We are preparing a master plan for the long-term development of the whole estate and hope to be able to build at least another 700,000 sq ft of factory, office and other accommodation on the site, over the next five years, providing jobs for 550 direct employees.

"We believe Tyne Tunnel Trading Estate has been neglected for too long. It has missed out on the massive developments that have taken place immediately to the North, at Silverlink, Balliol and now Cobalt."