Leading specialist investor Octopus Real Estate has granted Heworth Green Developments with an £18.3m development finance facility for a major development site in York, under the North Star banner.
The site has planning permission for 607 homes, as well as retail or community-use floorspace on the 8.95-acre former National Grid site. As part of a brownfield development close to amenities, it will also offer additional communal and privatised open spaces for residents located on the site.
The facility provided by Octopus Real Estate will be used for refinancing purposes, funding the ground works, and obtaining remaining areas of the site for completion.
Plans are in place for work to commence on the development later this month with remediation and infrastructure work, which will enable the construction of the new homes and facilities to follow.
The £18.3m facility is another huge funding milestone in the £85m GDV development journey. It has since been revealed that Moda Living has exchanged contracts for the Private Rented Sector (PRS) elements of the site, whilst North Star will recommence developing 215 open-market sale units.
“The Heworth site … has taken many years to get to a position where works can commence, and we are proud to be involved,” said Ludo Mackenzie, head of commercial property at Octopus Real Estate.
Tom Frank, managing director at Ice Cubed Commercial Finance — who acted as the adviser — commented that arranging the finance on this development had been complex, especially in the current challenging conditions.
“Successful closing of the deal is testament to our close relationship with Octopus Real Estate and the client.
“We are very proud to play our part in delivering this fantastic high quality development so close to our York office.”
A spokesperson for North Star added: “The journey to transform this large, brownfield site into a vibrant new community has taken over 18 months so far, and we are very excited to see it now coming to fruition.
“This will now enable us to start construction works on the site, and the first step will be to remediate the site, which will start very shortly.
“Our aim is to create a high quality sustainable development that York can be proud of and we are committed to delivering the development, even in these challenging times.”
Original article featured here…
Matt Lenzie from Commercial Mortgages Broker said: “it’s great to see Octopus continuing to perform at this level. This is a significant facility and one which will transfer this part of York!”