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.
Kennedy Wilson has acquired Bromley-by-Bow Industrial Park, an East London development site with planning consent for the creation of an urban industrial scheme with a gross development value of circa £100M.
The 4.7-acre site was assembled and master-planned by the seller, Fabrix, following a series of land purchases. A regeneration proposal to deliver 135K SF of industrial space, doubling the size of the scheme, achieved planning consent in September.
One of only two “strategic industrial locations” in Tower Hamlets, the redevelopment designed by Fabrix will comprise a new-build central block of industrial units totaling 129K SF arranged in two linear terraces around a central yard. It consists of 10 units varying from 6,500 SF to 19,400 SF, plus a repurposed maintenance of traffic warehouse building designated for use as an affordable workspace and circular economy hub.
The scheme will be developed by Kennedy Wilson to A energy performance certificate and BREEAM Excellent standards, and Fabrix will retain a role as a consultant for Kennedy Wilson during the initial stages of development to manage environmental, social and corporate governance and community initiatives.
DEALS
Columbia Threadneedle Real Estate has acquired Nuveen’s UK Property Fund, joining it with long-term institutional investors in the Threadneedle Property Unity Trust. The additional assets take TPUT’s NAV to more than £1B.
There are 16 assets in UKPF, with an average asset size of circa £8M. Among the larger assets being integrated into TPUT is Genesis Business Park in Woking.
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LondonMetric Property has sold £40.4M of mature and noncore urban warehouses, reflecting a net initial yield of 4.3%. The five assets have been sold in separate transactions to owner-occupiers and funds and comprise three London warehouses in Walthamstow, Park Royal and Croydon, which sold for a combined £30.8M, and two warehouses in Birmingham and Aberdeen that sold for £9.6M.
Over the year to 31 March, LondonMetric sold more than 70 assets for £347M, of which LondonMetric’s share was £342M, at 1.6% above prevailing book values.
ASSET MANAGEMENT
Flexible workspace operator Huckletree has signed an agreement with M&G Real Estate to manage 50K SF of work and event space in the 40 Leadenhall development in the City of London.
Huckletree will open at 40 Leadenhall in August, offering flexible office spaces ranging from 20 to 200 fully equipped workstations, plus shared meeting rooms, phone booths, communal breakout areas and a large central dining space. The building is targeting BREEAM Excellent and a five-star Nabers rating.
FUNDING
Global Hospitality Investment Group has provided a mezzanine loan facility to support the refinancing of the 106-key Wilde by Staycity London Liverpool Street. GHIG acted as joint mezzanine lender and arranger for the transaction alongside an unnamed global investment firm.
The borrower, Glenwell Group, refinanced its development loan from Oaknorth Bank, which matured following the asset's practical completion last summer. Alpha Property Lending provided the senior loan facility as part of the overall capital restructuring.
The scheme has a long-term, institutional fixed lease with Staycity under its Wilde brand. It comprises a mix of studio and one-bedroom apartments and a ground-floor food and beverage outlet.
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Investec Bank has provided Brydell Partners, a UK-focused real estate investment manager, with two senior loans across three Oxford assets. The two facilities are secured against a purpose-built student accommodation scheme, a fully let workspace hub and a BREAAM Excellent office.
The Spireworks 140-bed PBSA scheme is on Cowley Road, close to Oxford city centre, while North Bailey House, a newly completed and fully let office building, occupies a city centre location. Newtec is a mixed-use small and medium-sized enterprise hub offering a variety of amenities and local employment.
The assets sit within Journey, an operating platform owned by Brydell Partners funds that supports innovation in key UK knowledge economies.
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Specialist real estate lender Leumi UK has completed a £62M loan to the Splendid Hospitality Group to refinance two London hotels in Euston and Brentford.
The Euston hotel is a 201-key Four Points Flex by Sheraton, a brand of Marriott, and opened in September.
The Holiday Inn at Brentford Lock offers 134 guest rooms, F&B facilities, a canal-facing outdoor terrace, a fitness centre and 600-person-capacity conference facilities.
DEVELOPMENT
L&G Affordable Homes has been appointed as partner for the delivery of 72 affordable homes at Station Quarter in Telford town centre, with work starting immediately and expected to complete in spring 2027.
Homes are being delivered by Lovells alongside 33 dwellings by the council’s wholly owned housing company, Nuplace. Bowmer & Kirkland is delivering a further 84 apartments for Nuplace to bring the total new supply to 189 housing units.
Delivery has been supported by funding from Homes England and the West Midlands Combined Authority.
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CKC Properties is to lead the development of the Roc Club project after Valpre Capital acquired a 244-bed purpose-built student accommodation consented site on Rockingham Street in Elephant and Castle, London.
Designed by architect Maccreanor Lavington, the 24-storey scheme will comprise 206 studios and 38 apartments, with a fully fitted reception area, student lounge, gym and entertainment spaces, laundry facilities and 215 bicycle parking spaces. Completion is targeted for the second quarter of 2028.
PLANNING
Housebuilder Vistry Group has secured planning permission from Enfield Council to build 723 new homes as part of a wider scheme. The final two phases of the Alma Estate regeneration in Ponders End, north London, will deliver 187 homes for affordable tenures, with the remaining homes a mix of private rent and for sale.
Of the 187 units designated for affordable tenures, 80 will be for social rent and 107 will be shared ownership.
The originally consented proposal, granted in 2017, was for 401 homes. The revised plans have maintained the same number of affordable homes but have increased the provision of social rented family housing.
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Hertshten Properties UK has submitted an updated planning application to the City of London Corporation for the 30-storey 85 Gracechurch Street, a 235K SF office tower.
The proposed plans will include an exhibition of the remains of London’s first Roman basilica, revealed following initial on-site archaeological investigations. If approved, full excavations on the site will take place, with the new experience expected to be open to visitors from 2029 or 2030.
The new scheme will offer flexible floor space along with terraces on almost every floor, a dedicated office entrance and a public hall with access through to Leadenhall market, as well as retail amenities and the cultural exhibition space.
LEASING
Global investment management firm Squarepoint has agreed to prelet the entire 400K SF building at 65 Gresham Street for its London office. It is being developed by institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
The Squire & Partners-designed building is under redevelopment, with completion due in 2028. The all-electric office building will target a 66% whole-life carbon reduction and operational carbon at 12% lower than the 2022 Greater London Authority criteria.
It will include a new F&B outlet fronting Aldermanbury, which is to be pedestrianised. The building, which includes an extension of the existing structure to create the new office scheme, will have four new floors and 26K SF of roof terraces.
PEOPLE
Newmark has appointed Paddy Shipp and Rupert Dando to form its UK science and innovation practice. Led by Shipp, the new group will work with investors, developers, occupiers and venture capital investors across the UK’s core science and innovation markets.
Shipp, who was JLL’s head of UK life sciences, and Dando, who was a senior associate at Savills, have jointly been responsible for leasing more than 2.8M SF in the sector.
