Three Years After Administration, Original Collective Co-Living Scheme On Sale For £75M
The first large-scale co-living asset to be built in the UK has been put on the market for about £75M three years after its developer went into administration.
Cushman & Wakefield has been appointed to sell The Collective Old Oak in north west London, Green Street reported. The scheme has 551 bedrooms as well as lounge areas, kitchens, a restaurant, a bar and a spa.
It was opened in 2016 and was the largest co-living scheme in Europe at that time.
The Collective went into administration in autumn 2021. It was unable to meet liabilities when income from its open schemes fell during coronavirus-related lockdowns and it expanded its development pipeline in the UK and U.S. too fast.
Deutsche Bank and a fund managed by Gravis Capital were the main secured lenders to The Collective. Vehicles managed by Gravis are now leading the sale, Green Street said. A sale was planned in 2023, but fire safety remediation works slowed the process down.
The duo recouped £190M when Crosstree Real Estate bought The Collective’s Canary Wharf asset in 2022. That sale followed a failed attempt to sell The Collective’s assets via an initial public offering of a co-living REIT.
In the first quarter of this year, £258M were invested in the UK co-living sector, a quarterly record, a Knight Frank report said. The UK has 7,540 operational co-living units, with a further 13,483 either under construction or granted planning permission.
