Sytner Group will bring 140 jobs to a fast-growing industrial estate in Northampton with the creation of a “flagship” £12m Jaguar Land Rover dealership.

According to a report in the Northampton Chronicle newspaper, the AM100’s number one retail group has taken out a pre-let on a 66,900 square-foot building ahead of its creation of a JLR Dual Arch retail facility at the location on the city’s Swan Valley development.

Construction of the Guy Salmon-run dealership and aftersales site is underway, with an estimated completion date in Q2 2020.

As such, the opening is likely to coincide with that of Sytner’s £12.3m Guy Salmon JLR dealership at Cribbs Causeway, near Bristol.

Work is set to get underway at that location after Christmas and the dealership development is expected to be completed in spring 2020.

The Northampton Chronicle reported that Swan Valley is currently generating a number of new developments.

Elsewhere on the park, Aviva Investors’ speculative development of a 58,080 square-foot industrial facility called Odette 58 is underway.

A further speculative development of 128,000 square-foot logistics facility, will begin later this year, it reported.

Speaking to the newspaper, James Hill, director (industrial), at Sheffield-based commercial and residential real estate consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton, said: “Guy Salmon’s pre-let to create a flagship showroom for Jaguar Land Rover highlights the continued success of Swan Valley Industrial Estate for Aviva Investors.

“The prominent location of the park provides an excellent opportunity for brand awareness for the Guy Salmon Group, while the size of the facility will allow the company to extend its customer service offering even further.”

Back in August AM reported that JLR had taken the decision to ease off on some of its corporate identity demands in certain locations as it attempts to drive the completion of the Arch Concept project which should have been completed by franchisees at the end of 2018.

JLR’s UK Managing director, Rawdon Glover, confirmed that the previous requirement in some territories for a 7x9 Dual Arch showroom (space for seven Jaguars and nine Land Rovers) has halved to 4x4 (four of each), citing pressure on dealer margins and the potential changes to retail dynamics for the changed terms.

Many retailers are still investing in flagship locations with the manufacturer, though.

Last month Williams Group claimed to have brought together “blue chip” brands BMW/Mini and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) for the first time ever with the opening of its new £41m flagship TraffordCity car dealerships, in Manchester.