This Week's London Deal Sheet
The Deal Sheet is a weekly compilation of Greater London and beyond's biggest leases, sales, financing deals, construction updates and personnel moves. Have news you’d like to submit? Email mark.faithfull@bisnow.com.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Tene Living have acquired Alto, Montana and Dakota, three build-to-rent assets totalling 261 units at Wembley Park, from Quintain for about £115M.
As part of the project, the companies plan to refurbish amenities and execute environmental, social and governance uplifts, providing tenants with an enhanced rental experience, the partners said.
“This investment fits well with our continued conviction in the UK residential sector, supported by favourable macro tailwinds and a business plan that will add value to both our tenants and future investors,” Goldman Sachs Asset Management Managing Director in the Real Estate Business Chris Semones said in a statement.
“This is the first of many deals where we plan to leverage our residential build-to-rent experience from across Europe and the U.S. to deliver centrally located and competitively priced rentals,” Tene Living founding partner and CEO Sagi Rubin added.
Tene's other founding partner and chairman is Roger Orf, a former head of European real estate at Apollo Global Management.
DEALS
AXA IM Alts has exchanged contracts for the acquisition of the BBC Elstree Centre in north-west London, with the purchase due to complete in early 2025.
The acquisition would represent AXA IM Alts’ first investment in the UK’s TV and film studio market and was undertaken on behalf of clients. The BBC put the scheme up for sale for £70M.
As part of the transaction, AXA IM Alts will lease part of the studio campus back to the BBC for 25 years. The transaction follows AXA IM Alts’ acquisition of the Bry-sur-Marne studios in greater Paris in June, which includes one of France’s largest film and TV studios.
The 16-acre campus comprises seven stages and includes workshop, office and post-production facilities and presents an opportunity for brownfield redevelopment to deliver a new studio campus, the company said.
“The TV and film studios sector remains one of our conviction asset classes, being underpinned by increasing demand from an ever-broader array of production houses, content creators and broadcasters,” AXA IM Alts Global co-Head of Real Estate John O’Driscoll said in a statement. “This is coupled with very limited supply of high-quality modern film and production space, particularly in and around London.”
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Zenzic Capital, a real estate credit and special situations investment manager, has launched a new UK purpose-built student accommodation strategy with a target portfolio gross development value of over £500M.
This new strategy has been seeded with the acquisition of five major schemes with a total GDV of over £147M through a joint venture with Torsion Group, a Leeds-based residential developer, contractor and operator. The JV is targeting a total portfolio GDV of over £250M across seven schemes and will deliver 1,566 rooms by the end of 2024.
The first five schemes with Torsion include two schemes, located in Leeds and Nottingham, that are newly built and fully let. The other three are under construction in Warwick, Nottingham and Leeds.
The three new developments will be delivered by Torsion in time for the start of the 2025-2026 academic year.
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Aviva Investors has acquired a portfolio of six purpose-built student accommodation assets and a mixed-use commercial investment, extending its asset allocation to the direct-let PBSA sector.
The student accommodation portfolio comprises six assets in four cities across the UK, including Edinburgh, Liverpool, Exeter and Falmouth, which together provide beds for more than 1,000 students.
As part of the transaction, Aviva Investors has also acquired a complementary commercial asset in Liverpool spread over 65K SF and offering mixed-use leisure and retail spaces including hospitality, hotel and supermarket facilities.
Aviva Investors’ operating partner will be Curlew Capital, which will be responsible for lettings, maintenance and ongoing site management, alongside property manager Fresh.
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Clarion Partners Europe, the real estate investment fund manager specialising in logistics and industrial assets, has completed the acquisition of a modern warehouse in Coventry from BlackRock’s UK property fund for £28.25M.
It represents the first investment on behalf of Clarion Partners Europe’s core-plus, closed-end UK logistics fund, which in December achieved a final close with £427M of equity commitments.
Located on Middlemarch Business Park, an established Golden Triangle distribution hub, the 208K SF single-tenant property is leased to an online pet supplies and accessories retailer on a 10-year lease with over four years remaining.
The fund is Clarion Partners Europe’s first to solely focus on the UK, a market it recently reentered following a seven-year break.
LEASING
Flexible workspace provider Orega has signed a 10-year management agreement with Pearson to create flexible workspace at 80 Strand, Riverside, London WC2. This is Orega’s first move into the West End, and the new space is expected to open in late spring.
Orega will create approximately 35K SF of flexible workspace on the ground floor of the 550K SF office building and provide 630 workstations. In addition, there will be substantial meeting and event space.
80 Strand has been completely refurbished to include a remodelled main reception, enhanced communal spaces, new shower and cycle facilities, and wellness improvements.
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European law firm Fieldfisher has extended its lease for its headquarters at Riverbank House.
The lease extension will see Fieldfisher, whose occupation spans 81K SF of offices across three floors, remain in the BREEAM Excellent building until 2035.
Man Group, the head leaseholder, let 83K SF across the first through third levels earlier in 2023. Oxygen Asset Management manages the long leasehold interest of Riverbank House, which forms part of a portfolio of office assets across central London.
Fieldfisher was advised by CBRE, and Man Group was advised by BNP Paribas Real Estate.
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LaSalle Investment Management and Trilogy Real Estate have completed the 135K SF refurbishment of The Amp, a new campus for education and innovation in the Aldgate district of Tower Hamlets. In all, 40% of the building will be immediately occupied by two pre-let tenants, Nottingham Trent University’s Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies and Access Creative College.
A further two floors of the building have been let to the London College of Creative Arts, bringing the building up to 66% occupation ahead of completion. Allsop advised Trilogy during the leasing to LCCA, and Mark Kleinman at James Andrew International acted for LCCA.
The construction project to transform the buildings at 41-71 Commercial Road was completed in under a year to meet the operational requirements of the education occupiers, who needed an opening date in September.
FINANCING
Cain International, McCourt Partners, Galliard Homes, Vanke and Investec have secured a £188M refinancing for the residential component of The Stage, a mixed-use development in Shoreditch, entirely from the balance sheet of Macquarie Capital.
Situated on the former site of the Curtain Theatre, the 37-storey residential tower comprises 412 apartments, a luxury sky terrace, an underground amusement arcade and lifestyle amenities.
Last year, Cain announced the appointment of creative studio Bompas and Parr to deliver the Museum of Shoreditch, which will sit at the centre of the development, in collaboration with the Museum of London Archaeology and Historic England. The site also includes two office buildings and over 60K SF of retail and leisure space.
DEVELOPMENT
The City of London Corporation has approved a major retrofit scheme at 65 Gresham Street that will include a large area of public realm improvement and new retail outlets, alongside sustainable office space. JPMorgan Asset Management asset managers the building.
Proposals for the mixed-use scheme would see the site retain approximately 70% of the existing structure and include landscaped terraces, improvements to access and travel through and around the site, plus new retail space along Aldermanbury.
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UK value-add real estate investment and asset management firm Tri7 and joint venture partner Fusion Group have secured planning permission from Charnwood Borough Council for a purpose-built student accommodation scheme in Loughborough.
The JV’s proposal will deliver student-led housing at Limehurst Avenue on the derelict brownfield site adjacent to the Grand Union Canal Basin in Loughborough. Approved plans call for a nine-storey building containing 541 student bedrooms, delivered in time for the 2027-2028 academic year
The development will include outdoor amenity space, a spa-led recovery facility on-site to support a fitness lifestyle, and study spaces as well as a library. The scheme will also target BREEAM Excellent accreditation and deliver a 143% biodiversity net gain, the partners said.
