This Week's Europe Deal Sheet
UK
One of the largest rental community schemes in the UK, at Greenford Green, Ealing, London, achieved planning consent. Greystar appointed Meinhardt UK alongside architects HTA Design to regenerate an area of industrial wasteland next to the Grand Union Canal that was formerly occupied by pharmaceutical giant GSK. The majority of the 1,965-home development will be for multifamily rental, but it will also offer a mix of private sale, affordable and shared ownership homes within a mixed-use well-managed neighbourhood. The project will work around the listed Art Deco former GSK HQ building, which will be extended and renovated behind a retained façade. The proposal keeps the use as a commercial building.
The scheme will also deliver communal space and 60K SF of office space as well as 65K SF of retail — including a new grocery store — and 33K SF for restaurants and cafés. There will also be a new primary school on the site, as well as accommodation for a new health centre. A new pedestrian bridge over the canal and a proposal to reopen Berkeley Avenue to improve accessibility are also planned.
***
Avignon Capital acquired a restaurant unit in Fulham for £2.7M. The modern, purpose-built restaurant unit is arranged over 4,885 SF and let to Brasserie Blanc, the French restaurant group led by acclaimed chef Raymond Blanc. The new restaurant unit is in Fulham Reach, a high-profile riverside development on the Thames Pathway, due to open in early summer 2017. The development covers over 646K SF, which will bring 744 new homes to the riverside and provide a further 45K SF of retail, leisure and office accommodation. CWM acted for Avignon Capital during the transaction.
***
Kent Reliance, part of specialist lending group OneSavings Bank, acquired a new branch agency at 27 East St., Chichester. It will be the firm’s ninth addition to its portfolio, and will open on Saturday, 13 May.
***
ISG and Kennedy Woods Architecture completed The Cheese Bar’s first permanent site in Camden Market, North London. The fast-track project took ISG just six weeks to manufacture and install.
The Cheese Bar started life in an old British Leyland ice cream van and its toasties developed a cult following around the UK music festival circuit. Following the success of his first outlet, Archie’s Bar in Deptford Market, founder Mathew Carver crowdsourced the funds to open his new restaurant and bar with its cheese-based menu exceeding his £100K target in five days.
The new restaurant is in a 750 SF unit in one of the Grade II-listed stable blocks in Camden Market. Designed by Kennedy Woods Architecture, the empty shell has been transformed into a bespoke interior with a relaxed vibe that stays true to The Cheese Bar’s street food heritage.
***
Grosvenor Europe welcomed GUESS to Liverpool ONE’s Paradise Street. The brand has signed a lease for a 5K SF flagship, the largest store in the country outside of London. Situated next to Nike and opposite Urban Outfitters, GUESS adds to Paradise Street’s collection of young urban brands that also includes Footasylum, 7Liverpool and JD Sports, which is doubling the size of its existing store. Metis Real Estate Advisors and Cushman & Wakefield acted for Liverpool ONE.
***
Savills and London-based electric vehicle charging startup POD Point created a new partnership to promote electric and hybrid vehicles and grow the UK’s charging infrastructure. The duo will explore ways to improve access and availability to charging points across real parks and shopping centres in Savills’ portfolio.
***
A team of designers and tech experts from Atkins and Schréder won the first design competition in the City Centre’s 2017 campaign to highlight the potential of smart technologies in London’s Square Mile: A Smarter City.
The open competition called for cutting-edge designs in response to the theme of Smart Green Spaces and will be followed by a hackathon and competitions calling for ideas on Smart Buildings and Smart Infrastructure.
Atkins and Schréder’s winning entry, Key to the City, uses an augmented reality smartphone app and smart-enabled street furniture to celebrate the City of London’s network of more than 150 Green Spaces, providing information on screen to help Londoners engage with their surroundings.
The award for the Smart Green Spaces competition was presented to the Key to the City team at an event held at The City Centre and attended by over 400 people on Thursday, 27 April.
SPAIN
The JV between British real estate investment fund Benson Elliott, U.S. firm Walton Street and its partner in hotels, Highgate, has closed on the Silken Diagonal hotel in Barcelona. The hotel has 240 rooms spread over nine floors. The purchase price was about €80M. Highgate will take over the management of the hotel, which will be renamed Gates Hotel Diagonal Barcelona, Highgate brand.
ITALY
Barings Real Estate Advisers appointed Marco Corti as director of transactions and asset management in Italy. Corti will be based in Milan reporting to country head of Italy, Valeria Falcone, who is expanding her role by becoming the portfolio manager for a pan-European value-add strategy.
