Five Premier League football stars have joined forces with directors of Manchester-based Capital & Centric to launch a £250m residential property development company.
Liverpool players Luis Suarez, José Enrique Sanchez and Lucas Leiva and Arsenal midfield duo Santi Cazorla and Mikel Arteta have all been appointed directors of Capital & Centric Investments LLP.
Total equity of £50m has been invested, a sum that will be used to buy and speculatively develop sites for private rented homes with the aim of building a £250m portfolio.
The vehicle, which will initially target mid-sized city centre parcels of land in the North West, will trade from the offices of developer Capital & Centric in Deansgate, Manchester.
The players have been brought together on the back of existing personal relationships with Capital & Centric founders Tim Heatley and Adam Higgins, who have also joined the board of directors of the investment vehicle.
Capital & Centric’s development arm will act as development manager for the business.
The A-list players are contributing varied amounts and will draw proportional dividends.
Initial discussions have taken place with further investors from the worlds of football, motor sports and tennis.
A source said: “Most high-profile sports stars know they can’t continue to make the kind of money they are used to making indefinitely. They want close personal relationships, people they can trust, to get them into the right investments so they can continue to earn decent money.”
No purchases have been made yet, but several sites are being lined up.
One initial project on which funds from the business could be deployed is Manchester Metropolitan’s 250,000 sq ft Aytoun Campus, where Capital & Centric is bidding to buy and redevelop the site.
Capital & Centric’s existing major projects include the redevelopment of 1970s Liverpool office block Tithebarn House to create 40,000 sq ft of flexible business space for SMEs. The developer also has planning permission to redevelop the derelict Littlewoods Pools Building as a scheme including a 104-bedroom hotel and 100,000 sq ft of offices and flexible business space.
Property and football have growing links. Former Manchester United and England defender Gary Neville has been building a property portfolio since his retirement in 2011. His holdings include a former printworks in Deansgate, a restaurant in Salford and a 139-bedroom hotel in Old Trafford.
He was also recently appointed as a director of new Manchester-based planning and development management consultancy Zerum Consult.
chris.berkin@estatesgazette.com
