Galliard and Apsley House Capital are seeking a build-to-rent forward funding partner at the £165m Soho Loop development in Birmingham.
The 752 homes were originally planned as 100% sales. But, in a challenging market, the joint venture is ditching its traditional strategy of off-plan sales to fund development.
The partnership has instructed Savills to secure forward funding from a BTR investor, after scoping different options for the apartments and townhouses, such as a site sale.
It is estimated that this could offer a potential £120m of investment opportunity across the entire site, with a 20% discount to GDV for the residential element.
Soho Loop comprises 650 flats across six residential buildings of up to 14 storeys and 102 two and three-bedroom townhouses, designed by Claridge Architects.
Galliard and Aspley House Capital acquired the 12-acre derelict site bound by Dudley Road and Birmingham’s Main Line Canal, to the north-west of the city centre, from City and Provincial Properties in 2017.
The scheme sits next to the Icknield Port Loop and features in the Greater Icknield Masterplan as part of the Birmingham Development plan. It received planning consent from Birmingham City Council at the start of this year.
It is the joint venture’s largest development in Birmingham as part of a £500m drive in the region scooping up five sites with a plan to deliver 2,250 homes.
Galliard has been one of the most active residential developers in London in the past decade, but in 2016 moved its attention to Birmingham and the outer boroughs as land prices in the capital rocketed and sales slowed.
The partnership’s first scheme, the 379-home Timber Yard in the Chinese Quarter, is currently under construction with 75% sold and is expected to be the first major scheme in Birmingham from a national developer. Galliard’s second development at St Paul’s Quarter in the Jewellery Quarter was approved last November and is awaiting a release date for sales.
It has two other sites Camden Yard in the Jewellery Quarter and another at Belgrave Village in the south of the city between Moseley and Edgbaston.
In an interview with EG at the start of the year, executive chairman and co-founder Stephen Conway noted that development land prices had tripled in some parts of the city and the business would focus on new opportunities in central London ahead of an anticipated rebound in the capital.
To send feedback, e-mail emma.rosser@egi.co.uk or tweet @EmmaARosser or @estatesgazette
