Student Castle sells student portfolio to Singapore Press Holdings for £448m
Student Castle has sold a seven-strong student accommodation portfolio to Singapore Press Holdings for £448m …
Grainger gets green light for Waterloo redevelopment
Grainger has received planning permission to redevelop a housing estate in Waterloo, London …
Catella acquires Krakow mixed-use scheme for €20m
The Catella European Residential (CER) Fund has acquired a mixed-use development project of residential apartments and student accommodation in Kraków, Poland for around €20m from U.S. developer Hines. The 154 new apartments and 139 student units purchased by CER, which is managed by Berlin-based Catella Residential Investment Management (CRIM) and Catella Real Estate AG (CREAG), are part of a large new residential development scheme constructed by Hines and located close to the old city centre and market square.
The residential apartments extend over two buildings, with the student accommodation in a third, and all are characterised by modern architectural design with large windows, balconies and terraces. The new developments have been completely finished and partly fitted out, with the first occupants moving into their new homes in January. The three CER buildings will operate in the future under the collective brand “Trio Kraków.”
Viktoria Hoffmann, Investment Advisor for Catella European Residential, said: “Catella Residential’s third investment in Poland and our first outside Warsaw, brings further pan-European diversification to CER and means the fund’s total assets under management have now hit €1.5bn. Kraków is Poland’s second-largest city and not only a major tourist destination, but it is also the place where the fast-growing business process outsourcing industry is increasingly choosing to locate. BPO companies occupy more than half a million square metres of offices in Kraków.” …
Future Generation secures permission for £80m mixed-used scheme in Hackney Wick
Student accommodation provider Future Generation has secured planning permission for The Vogue, a mixed-use scheme in Hackney Wick …
The Collective gets greenlight for Stratford tower
The Collective has received a resolution to grant planning permission from the London Legacy Development Corporation to transform a site on Stratford High Street into a new public destination for the local community …
Manchester looks to put brake on co-living developments
Manchester’s political leaders are being urged to place strict controls on the number of co-living schemes approved in the city until a proper policy can be developed for the housing model.
A report to a meeting of the city council’s executive this week argues that purpose-built and professionally managed shared-housing developments could be detrimental to the city’s housing market and the authority’s finances – and questions the demand for them.
Strategic director for growth and development Eddie Smith said there were solid grounds for supporting co-living developments in only “a very limited number of places, in restricted amounts, within the city centre” and where developers could robustly evidence need …
Funds need to get smart: Why the future is in residential, not retail, assets
Austrian-born architect Victor Gruen is widely recognised as the father of the modern shopping centre, designing the first purpose-built outside shopping mall called Northland Mall near Detroit in 1954.
The post-war economic boom allied to the rapid rise in consumerism saw shopping centres become a global phenomenon. Such was the success of the Austrian-designed, American-born shopping centre that it is said that while Gruen tried to make America more like his hometown of Vienna, he ended up making Vienna more like America.
But, times have changed. Over the last decade or so, physical bricks and mortar retail in the UK has become distressed, with online shopping certainly playing its part. High street name after high street name has fallen into administration over that time as shoppers swapped the queues for shopping on their smartphones …
RM Funds leads £40m student accommodation refinancing for UNINN
Investment trust RM Funds has completed a £40m refinancing for UNINN, the UK student accommodation provider. The deal, made with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, refinances four operational student accommodation assets comprising 640 beds across Newcastle, Sheffield, Leicester and Coventry …
Russell Group universities unite to tackle climate crisis
The Russell Group universities in the United Kingdom have pledged to tackle climate change through research, teaching and more sustainable practices. In a joint statement released last Tuesday, they said the “global environmental and ecosystem challenges are urgent and real”, reports Study International …
Why 2020 could be a strong year for the UK’s PBSA sector
A new student housing report from global real estate firm JLL has revealed that the outlook for UK PBSA (purpose-built student accommodation) is positive, with strong occupier demand forecasts set to attract continued investor interest in the sector
However, challenges remain as a fall in construction levels and rent affordability are impacting development activity.
With rising demand for higher education, JLL predicts that full-time student numbers will rise by a further half a million by 2030. As such, PBSA has become a lucrative ticket for real estate investment and, according to the company’s Student Housing Report, investor appetite remains robust due to its defensive, income-producing characteristics …