Fortwell Capital has confirmed a new €6m (£5.4m) loan facility to investor-developer Create Real Estate to fund the acquisition and speculative refurbishment of two major office buildings in Cardiff city centre. The now completed acquisition by Create Real Estate includes two separate four-storey office buildings in the Welsh capital – Dumfries House and Marchmount House – totalling some 43,000ft². The initial deal, which was kicked off in Q4 2019, marks the beginning of a planned long-term strategic relationship between Fortwell and Create. The new acquisition represents Fortwell’s first deal in Wales as the lender progresses its UK-wide strategy of funding opportunistic development and refurbishment projects in strong regional markets.
Nikos Yerolemou, Associate Director at Fortwell Capital said: “We believe in the long-term resilience of the office building sector - especially with Cardiff’s fundamentals - and are delighted to support Create with the acquisition of Dumfries and Marchmount House. The project team is particularly pleased to have pushed ahead with the funding through the Covid pandemic, aligning ourselves quickly with Create’s vision and to complete the deal on schedule. This value-add facility complements our wide property portfolio perfectly and we look forward to working again in the future with Create.”
Ricky Humphreys, director at Create Real Estate said: “These prominent office buildings are in an excellent location with huge potential to modernise them. Our approach will provide much-needed, high-quality workspace in a sustainable way by retaining and refurbishing the buildings that may otherwise be demolished. Despite current challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic, Cardiff has an exciting story to tell with plenty going for it. The amazing quality of life, increasing levels of inward investment, massive infrastructure investment planned and incredibly high population growth projections, against a backdrop of a deepening undersupply of quality city-centre office space. Our plans for Marchmount & Dumfries House will help to meet this increasing demand. Following the Cardiff acquisition, we have been encouraged by Fortwell’s value add proposition and their plans and longer-term pipeline. We look forward to building on this great start together.”
