Urban&Civic has bought 907 acres of land at Priors Hall in Northamptonshire for £39.9m plus 58 acres of woodland for £550,000.
The site has outline planning consent for 5,095 homes and some of it been sold to seven housebuilders and is in the process of being built out.
The development is split into three residential phases, with the new homes set around lakes, open parkland and woodland.
Urban&Civic is acquiring 3,656 uncontracted plots, substantively comprising phases two and three and the benefit of outstanding sums on phase one.
Estimated near-term receipts from phase-one housebuilder contracts now payable to Urban&Civic are expected to be in the order of £11.8m, including overage, giving a net purchase consideration of £28.1m for the uncontracted plots.
The scheme already has more than 1,000 residents. Housebuilders on site include Barratt and David Wilson, Taylor Wimpey, Kier and Francis Jackson Homes.
There were close to 200 housing completions at Priors Hall in the 12 months to March 2017. Priors Hall Primary School for 420 children had its first intake in September 2016, and is adjacent to the Foster Associates-designed Corby Business Academy, which opened in 2008. House prices currently being achieved are in the range of £200-£225 per sq ft.
The purchase of Priors Hall is being part funded by the Homes and Communities Agency, which is also making available additional facilities to cover future forecast infrastructure spend. Committed facilities from the HCA for the transaction total £45.4m, excluding accrued interest.
Nigel Hugill, chief executive of Urban&Civic, said: “Priors Hall offers exceptional upside for shareholders and demonstrates the ability of Urban&Civic to work through large site challenges that other developers often find too daunting. The acquisition is right in our sweet spot: complicated history, long and supportive funding structure, demonstrable potential for better project organisation and improved planning. Plus the fundamentals are strong: 68-minute direct rail service into London and 7m people living within 50 miles.
“Recent house price growth in the local area is amongst the highest in the country, while Priors Hall has been achieving sales of around 200 new homes a year despite being under managed and over leveraged. We believe our skills and experience as incoming master developer confer competitive advantage for which we expect to be rewarded with superior returns.”
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