Space in an industrial park has been snapped up before the project is complete.

The £24m M2CityLink is being built on the edge of the Medway City Estate, Strood, where there were previously plans for a Sainsbury's superstore, a B&Q and a park and ride.

It is due to be finished in September and 80% of the units are already pre-let.

The development was granted planning permission by Medway Council in December 2019 and work started in September last year.

Occupiers will include Selco Builders Warehouse, an Argos distribution centre and trade supplier Wurth. Final units are available through a letting agent.

The site, next to the McDonald's and Co-op petrol station off Anthonys Way, has been earmarked for development for 18 years, with plans first submitted in 2003 by B&Q.

Several variations to the plans were submitted in the following three years until Sainsbury's bought the site from the DIY firm and put forward its own scheme for a massive £5m superstore and park and ride in 2010.

The park and ride plans involved reclaiming land around the Whitewall Creek between the development site and A289 Vanguard Way.

But the scheme never progressed and Sainsbury's confirmed in 2015 it was scrapping its plans to build on the site.

Two more applications came forward in 2016 and 2017 for retail parks. Both were accepted on appeals but the building work never started.

Maidstone-based L3P acquired the site from Sainsbury’s, and pre-sold the development to a major British funding institution that will hold the completed investment.

The new development is one of the largest to be built on the Medway City Estate for several years.

'We’ve always believed that M2CityLink would be a success' - managing director Colin Thacker

Managing director of L3P, Colin Thacker: “We’ve always believed that M2CityLink would be a success but to achieve over 80% pre-lets before completion is exceptional and is testament to the development itself and, more importantly, its location.”

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