Legal & General continues to expand its Build to Rent (BTR) offer as it announces, on behalf of its Build to Rent Fund (BTR Fund) and Access Development Partnership (a joint venture between Legal & General Capital and PGGM), that it has agreed to the funding of a €64.3m (£57m) development site at Tower Works in Leeds City Centre.
Recognising the prospect for rental growth in Leeds, Legal & General has acquired two BTR sites in the city centre; Mustard Wharf in 2017, and now Tower Works. Both sites are central to the landmark South Bank regeneration area, and together will deliver 500 homes, offering one, two and three-bedroom apartments, alongside over 16,000ft² of commercial space. In the last few years, the BTR sector has really come into its own. It has cemented its position in the UK as an asset class and successfully evolving away from the private rented sector.
Dan Batterton, Senior Fund Manager, BTR, LGIM Real Assets said: “As Covid-19 drives secular changes and a fundamental rethink of many areas of the real estate sector, BTR has remained largely unaffected. It has delivered stable income returns throughout the crisis, with occupancy, rent collection and demand remaining high. In the last four weeks, we have committed €64.3m (£57m) n to Tower Works, c.€113m (£100m) to Hockley Mills in Birmingham, and welcomed the first residents to our Mustard Wharf scheme in Leeds, Box Makers Yard in Bristol and the final phase of The Slate Yard in Salford. We continue to invest throughout the UK and demonstrate the need for homes with functional space to work, alongside convenient access to local cultural and leisure amenities.”
