Real estate fund manager Hines and Dutch pension fund asset manager APG have secured €91.5m financing from PGIM Real Estate for a 431-unit build-to-rent (BTR) scheme in Ireland’s capital.
The scheme, completed in 2022, has a 99% occupancy and forms part of Hines and APG’s Cherrywood project in Dublin.
PGIM Real Estate said the financing was provided on behalf of its core debt platform, which has the ability to provide solutions across Europe for both fixed and floating-rate borrowers. The manager’s European debt platform provides alternative financing, including senior debt, whole loans and mezzanine with co-invest equity.
James Mathias, senior portfolio manager for European core debt at PGIM Real Estate, said: “There continues to be a chronic undersupply of housing in all markets with rental demand only set to increase.
“Our conviction in the living sector and BTR remains strong as it continues to demonstrate strong operational fundamentals and attractive investment opportunities, especially in prime cities such as Dublin, where rental pressure zones are expected to continue to constrain new supply and support occupancy.”
In January 2018, APG and Hines announced a partnership on a project to develop over a thousand BTR apartments along with retail facilities in Cherrywood.
With a total development cost estimated at around €450m, the joint venture will fund both the land and the construction of 1,221 fully serviced BTR apartments, along with street-level shops and cafes in the new Cherrywood Town Centre, the companies said at the time.
Gary Corrigan, managing director at Hines, said: “With Cherrywood setting a new benchmark in Dublin for sustainable residential communities, we are delighted to be partnering with the highly regarded PGIM Real Estate and its European debt platform for Phase 1 of Cherrywood Town Centre.
“We’re seeing great progress across the Cherrywood Town Centre project with Phase 2 completing late last year and Phase 3 set to complete this summer. This will mean that a total of 1,269 apartments including 127 social housing homes will have come on stream over the past 2 years.”
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