Real estate investor makes Birmingham debut with acquisition of city centre development

Europa Capital, the real estate investment manager has entered the Birmingham market with the acquisition of Crown Works, a new 203-apartment build-to-rent development adjacent to the city’s central business district.

The seven storey Crown Works building comprises one, two and three bedroom apartments across around 138,000 sq ft of space, with 5,900 sq. ft of flexible amenity, including a gym, co-working space, private dining and concierge services.

There is also a private residents’ roof terrace giving panoramic views of Birmingham’s skyline as well as private roof terraces for three duplex penthouse apartments, in addition to two ground floor retail units totalling 3,700 sq ft.

Situated on Hanley Street, just 400 metres from Birmingham Snow Hill train station, Crown Works is within walking distance of Birmingham’s growing CBD and entertainment district, which has seen the recent development of Grade A offices, homes and improved public spaces.

Construction is expected to start imminently, with practical completion of the development due to be reached in Q1 2024.

Europa Capital has made the acquisition through a forward funding agreement on behalf of its value-add fund, Europa Fund VI.

Hugo Black, partner at Europa Capital, said: “The lack of supply of high quality rental accommodation remains a UK wide problem, with ongoing buy-to-let mortgage redemptions continuing to exceed build to rent completions. This is our first foray into the Birmingham market, which, as the UK’s second largest city and with a burgeoning young population – thanks largely to being home to one of the country’s leading universities – is an attractive location for this type of residential product. A number of blue-chip companies have also chosen Birmingham as their regional hub, reflecting the role the city has to play in the levelling up agenda.”

Jason Oram, partner and fund manager at Europa Capital, added: “Against the current economic backdrop and rising inflation, build-to-rent offers institutional investors a good hedge, whilst being more resilient to structural change than other asset classes. This latest investment follows close on the heels of our recent acquisition of a 161 apartment BTR development on Bendix Street in Manchester, as momentum continues to build behind our growing UK BTR platform.”