Pension fund digs out £11.2m loan for apartments scheme

An £11.2m loan facility to fund Iliad’s development of 120 apartments in the historic Rope Walks area of Liverpool has been provided by Merseyside Pension Fund’s new Catalyst Fund.

CBRE Capital Advisors is MPF’s retained property investment adviser and structured and underwrote the loan.

The loan is the first investment backed by the Catalyst Fund since its inception in 2016 and meets the fund criteria of investing in projects that will help to deliver economic growth to the Liverpool City Region, upgrading the housing offer, regenerating deprived communities and maximising the use of new spaces in the city.

Iliad (Grenville Street) Ltdd, is a local developer which has developed numerous projects across Liverpool and has been heavily involved in the regeneration of the city centre over the last 20 years.

The development, to be named The Eight Building, will see a mixture of build-to-rent apartments interspersed with mainstream build for sale units.

It will be adjacent to the first phase of development called St Michael’s Phase 1, a 260-unit student housing project delivered by Iliad in 2013.

It is one of the last sites to come forward in the Rope Walks area of Liverpool which has undergone a dramatic transformation over the last ten years.

Cllr Paul Doughty, chair of Merseyside Pension Fund (MPF), said: “As the fund is the local government pension scheme for the Liverpool City Region it is rewarding that we are able to provide our members with a commercial return whilst stimulating economic growth in the LCR. We look forward to the potential of making similar investments in the future.”

Chris Shorrock of CBRE Capital Advisors, MPF’s retained property investment adviser, said: “This investment represents what the fund was set up to support, economic growth in line with the LCR’s strategy.

“Additionally we are pleased to support a local developer with significant development experience in Merseyside.”

Tim Molloy from Iliad said: “Iliad has been successfully developing in the Rope Walks area for the last 20 years and we are now very happy to be working with a local fund to bring forward our latest scheme which will create jobs and much needed family housing in the area.”