Joint venture formed for major city centre development
A funding partnership has been agreed to support the acquisition and subsequent development of a landmark scheme of around 550 build-to-rent apartments in Birmingham.
PGIM Real Estate has teamed up with Court Collaboration to support its purchase of the city centre scheme.
The scheme, designed by CallisonRTKL, will see the Brindley Drive car park redeveloped, a location of strategic importance on the doorstep of many of the City’s public amenities, as well as the Paradise redevelopment.
Andrew Macland, head of European debt for PGIM Real Estate, said: “This financing loan demonstrates our continued focus on ‘create core’ real estate assets in liquid markets such as the UK.
“This focus is driven by the structural trends we identify in residential, a sector seeing a strong generational shift in living needs, with rising demand for premium housing. Having engaged with Court Collaboration for nearly two years, we are confident in their experience and network of strong local developers partnerships to be able to deliver this scheme and look forward to working together.”
Alex Neale, managing director at Court Collaboration, said: “Having now exchanged on this exciting scheme we look forward to bringing our plans forward for local engagement prior to submitting a planning application. The site is in a prime location for BTR and our high-quality development will complement the neighbouring City Centre Gardens, Paradise re-development and Centenary Square. Watch this space for more in the coming weeks and months. As a business we are thrilled to start our JV with the second biggest real estate fund in the world, and just as the Commonwealth Games are set to begin in our beloved city. We hope this deal is the start of many.”
Leader of Birmingham City Council, Ian Ward, said: “This is another huge vote of confidence in Birmingham and I’m delighted that PGIM Real Estate are joining forces with Court to deliver this exciting development. It’s testament to our confidence and ambition as a city that a nearly $2Trillion fund has joined forces with one of our own home-grown SME developer companies. This is a golden decade of opportunity for Birmingham and the timing of the news of this fantastic partnership, as we countdown the final few days to the Commonwealth Games, could not be better. We’re attracting the investors and partners to deliver homes, jobs and opportunities for people across this city.”
