BUYERS are queuing up to develop the site of Oxford's postal sorting office, which is expected to sell for more than £2m, writes Chris Koenig.

Estate agents Styles and Whitlock said there were already several potential buyers for the 1.7-acre sorting office site, in Beckett Street, Oxford, which Royal Mail is about to vacate.

Spokesman John Kitto said: "There is a lot of serious interest in the site for redevelopment."

Royal Mail has now almost completed the move of its sorting office to the Oxford Business Park on the old Rover North Works in Cowley.

Mr Kitto said that the prime Beckett Street site was for sale at a cost of more than £1m an acre.

He said: "Lots of interest is coming from residential developers like Berkeley Homes and Persimmon, who developed the land across the road by the station.

"There is also interest from office and retail developers and the city council is keen on an idea to build a hotel there.

"A hotel was planned for the station site but now the new business school is to be built there."

He added that offices were least likely to fill the site as developers were unwilling to build speculative blocks in the light of the city's traffic policy which might, in the future, make it hard to drive to city centre offices. Bids are invited to arrive before February 27.

The sorting office was until early this century part of the convent of St Thomas, named after the medieval church next door. Joint owner of the site is Christ Church.

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