Revaluation boost for The Island Quarter development
Nottingham’s The Island Quarter development has been given a boost after it was revalued at nearly £30m more than cost.
The 36-acre scheme is designed to create a new community in Nottingham once it is fully built out.
Conygar bought The Island Quarter in 2016 and over the last year has submitted three detailed planning applications for the early phase developments.
Two of these have been granted with the third, which includes two hotels, residential apartments and co-working space, expected to be considered by the planning committee at the end of 2021.
Work has now begun on the first phase, which includes a 21,500 sq ft food and beverage-led building that is scheduled to be finished by Easter. It has also started groundworks for a 700-bed student accommodation scheme which is targeted to be ready to welcome the September 2023 university intake.
Conygar said the “substantial progress” has enabled it to have the site valued properly, as previously it had been valued at cost.
Knight Frank has valued the development at £70.5m, which is 69% above cost.
The valuation “provides support and justification for the direction of travel taken to date”, the company said.
The update came as Conygar revealed its results for the year to September. The Island Development revaluation has been key to a 29% increase in its net assets to £114.1m.
Robert Ware, Conygar’s chief executive, highlighted the “speed and effectiveness” of the vaccine programme in underpinning an economic recovery.
He said: “This success has been mirrored in the real estate sector with commercial property values increasing in the last year, on average by approximately 7%, driven by higher transaction volumes and the hardening of yields across much of the market. Our results have benefited from this economic bounce and reflect a significant improvement to those reported in the previous year.”
Ware believes Conygar “is well positioned to benefit both from the renewed market optimism and significant post COVID-19 social changes”.
