Student accommodation firm graduates to Cambridge
COVENTRY student accommodation firm Study Inn has acquired Cambridgeshire County Council’s former head office buildings at Castle Court in Cambridge for an undisclosed sum.
The 84,000sq ft courtyard building is centrally located and will provide 342 studio rooms with ancillary space.
Acquisitions director Sam Jefferson said: “We are rolling out the Study Inn brand throughout the UK and Cambridge is a very important addition to our existing room stock.
“We are very pleased to have secured a long leasehold of this very well-located property and its completion will take our portfolio close to 1,500 rooms.
“The room styles, communal areas and level of service will be new to the city and this will be a flag ship centre for Study Inn.
Ben Green, of Barker Storey Matthews, the agents who acted for the county council, said: “There was very keen interest in this prominent property and we were pleased to be able to structure a transaction which achieved the council’s aspirations for this important disposal.”
A planning application for change of use will be submitted imminently and the accommodation will be phased to open over the 2015/6 and 2016/17 academic years.
Study Inn first opened in Coventry in 2009. Between then and 2014 the company created seven Study Inns in Coventry, Nottingham and Sheffield and has a further 210 rooms opening in Coventry in 2015 to complete the last stage of its Student Village concept.
