£20m forward funding for student accommodation scheme

Work begins this month on a 188-bed student accommodation property in Leeds, which has received £20m worth of forward funding.

Advised by Cushman & Wakefield, Waypoint Long Income Fund (WLIF) has committed the money for the project on Park Lane.

The scheme has been designed on the site of a former office building, which was purchased in January 2020 from Rushbond. It will be developed in a joint venture partnership between Yorvale and Maple Grove Developments and will be let to Unipol Student Homes for a term of 25 years.

GMI has been chosen as the scheme contractor and completion of work is expected by August 2021.

Martin Blakey, of Unipol, said: “Our commitment to this building is based on its great location and the quality of design, both externally and internally.

“It reflects Unipol’s values to provide well-priced student accommodation and create a living environment that encourages socialisation and wellbeing which is part of our educational mission.

“Our long-term leasing will enable us to nurture this building and its occupants over the next quarter of a century and to ensure it is rooted in the historic community of Little Woodhouse in this outstanding part of Leeds.”

Karen Hirst, of Maple Grove Developments, said: “We are excited to be providing this superb new student accommodation for Unipol which is in a great location in the centre of Leeds’ student district.

“Now the funding deal is completed the team will be working hard to deliver the 188 beds for the start of the 2021/2022 academic year.”

Simon Marshall, of Cushman & Wakefield’s Capital Markets team, said: “This represents an excellent opportunity for this new fund to take advantage of the robust market in alternative investments.”

Russell Hefferan, of Cushman & Wakefield’s Student Accommodation Capital Markets team, added: “Investment volumes in the alternatives sector surpassed commercial volumes in Q1 2019 for the first time, and we are delighted to have helped Waypoint increase their exposure to this sector.”

Richard Baker, of Rushbond, said: “We’ve been delighted to work with Maple Grove Developments and  Yorvale through the planning process and are pleased with the quality of the innovative new build design.”

JLL and One Seven PCL acted on behalf of Yorvale and Maple Grove.

JLL’s Martin Le Grice said: “Waypoint’s investment in Oak House not only reflects a vote of confidence in the PBSA sector but demonstrates the continued demand for long let real estate with indexed linked reviews.”

Sam Bolton, of JLL, added: “The purchaser engaged with the vendor’s team at an early stage significantly easing what can often be a complex process.

“The team has worked quickly to get on site and I look forward to seeing the development take shape in the coming months.”

The design team includes DLA Architecture, JPG as Structural Engineer, Futureserve as M&E Consultant, Quodd as Planning Consultant, and Banks Smith as Employers Agent.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Building Consultancy Team will monitor the build process on behalf of WLIF.