James Villas House on the 20/20 Business Park in St Leonards Road, Allington, Maidstone up for sale
12:03, 18 April 2024
The office of a former travel company is up for sale.
James Villas House on the 20/20 Business Park in St Leonards Road, Allington, Maidstone is on the market for £1.7 million and has 9,700 sq ft of office space.
The detached building has a combination of open-plan and cellular offices with 72 parking spaces and expired planning consent to extend the parking area by 32 spaces.
It is advertised as having potential for further development on the 1.3-acre site.
The Maidstone-based firm, which offers around 600 holiday homes across Europe, stopped taking bookings last October and a statement on its website said it would be closed by the end of the year.
The closure of the business, which also had a shop at Bluewater shopping centre in Greenhithe, was expected to lead to 40 job losses.
New customers were asked to book future holidays through Awaze’s sister company NOVASOL.
A consultation about James Villas’ office at the 20/20 park near Allington and Aylesford took place, while affected villa owners were contacted.
Speaking at the time, chief executive Henrik Kjellberg said: “We have decided to cease trading with James Villas as that model relied on guaranteed inventory.
“James Villas’ core inventory represents less than 1% of our total supply. We will work hard to ensure we minimise the impact on our employees, suppliers and customers.”
A statement from James Villas added: “The entire team would like to thank each and every customer that has ever booked with us. It has been a pleasure being part of your holiday experiences for so many years.”
James Villas was founded in 1984 before being sold to Wyndham Worldwide in 2010 for just over £63m following the death of the owner’s son, Darren Needham.
It was then sold in 2018 to US private equity Platinum Equity as part of Wyndham Worldwide’s decision to get rid of its European holiday rental business, European Vacation Rentals, which a year later became Awaze.
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