Vacant property to be converted into student accommodation

Secured loans business, Assetz Capital, has provided a development facility to deliver a Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) scheme in Bradford.

The £2.99m facility will be used to extensively refurbish an existing building at Laisteridge Student Village, Bradford city centre. Once work has been completed, it will comprise 169 student rooms across two blocks.

Developer Baseball Developments, which was advised by Auxilium Real Estate, says the new project aims to help address an undersupply of accommodation for both local and international students looking to study in the city.

Ricky Humphreys, relationship director at Assetz Capital, said: “Bradford has a continuing undersupply of quality purpose-built accommodation and we are proud to play our part in supporting the repurposing of this building.

“The vision and spirit of the company to take a vacant property and assist the town by creating vital accommodation for its students is exactly the sort of proposal we seek to fund.”

Niall Brown, co-founder of Auxilium, said: “This was a difficult loan to secure and it required a skilled development lender like Assetz to understand a sub-market that isn’t particularly well known. Closing the debt is a great milestone for the borrower.”

Andrew Fraser, chief commercial officer at Assetz Capital, added: “We are happy to have supported Auxilium Real Estate and their customer on this key scheme.

“With PBSA alone Assetz Capital has provided over £52.9m, funding the construction of over 959 beds across the UK, and we continue to support the development of PBSA, build-to-rent and traditional large-scale development.”