Urban Exposure and LetterOne have signed an agreement to jointly fund the acquisition by Wainbridge of 11-15 Grosvenor Crescent from the Grosvenor Group for £114 million (approx. €137.2 million), and the subsequent redevelopment of the site.
The agreement is for a senior debt acquisition and development facility. The gross development value of the scheme is anticipated to be in the region of £350 mln (approx. €421.4 million).
The loan is being arranged and funded jointly by LetterOne and Urban Exposure. Urban Exposure originated the loan and has also been appointed loan asset manager.
LetterOne, a multi-strategy investment vehicle with assets in excess of $28 bln (approx. €33.7 billion), is a recent entrant in the European real estate and asset-backed financing markets and is looking to invest a significant proportion of its $10b+ of liquid assets in large ticket private transactions.
Urban Exposure was recently named by Savills as one of the top 12 residential development ‘big ticket’ lenders. It has recently completed financings of £500 million (approx. €601.9 million) on a variety of schemes, including Greenwich Square, a £225 million (approx. €270.9 million) regeneration scheme with the Hadley Group.
Westminster City Council has awarded planning consent for the demolition of the existing offices and the development of the property into 80,000 ft² (approx. 7,432 m²) of Super-Prime high-end residential, with a total gross development value of over £350 million (approx. €421,37 million). The scheme will comprise 11 Super-Prime apartments, including four Grand apartments, five laterals and two duplex penthouses with external terraces overlooking Belgravia, with associated parking and leisure amenities. The redevelopment of the property, which is Grade II listed, will see the façade and listed elements retained and restored, with the rest demolished and rebuilt to provide modern, spacious, luxury residential units fitted out to an exceptionally high standard. Demolition is expected to start early 2014 with the development to be completed by 2017.
The lenders were advised by Allen & Overy Solicitors, Savills and AECOM. Wainbridge were advised by Taylor Wessing Solicitors and have employed Flanagan Lawrence Architects for the scheme who have recently worked on One Hyde Park and The Shard apartments.
Source: Urban Exposure
