Portuguese investment and asset management company Imorendimento said last week it has launched a new closed-end property fund, Historic Lodges, for urban redevelopments in the historic centre of Gaia, the second-most important city in Oporto's Metropolitan Area (northern Portugal).

Portuguese investment and asset management company Imorendimento said last week it has launched a new closed-end property fund, Historic Lodges, for urban redevelopments in the historic centre of Gaia, the second-most important city in Oporto's Metropolitan Area (northern Portugal).

The fund, with a spending power of up to EUR 30mln, will start with the development of a residential project offering 80 apartments over a 20,000 m2 area. Historic Lodges currently has only its initial investor - Taylors Fladgate Yeatman - but will be opening to new UK institutional investors.

Imorendimento said that the property will be integrated in a 22,000 m2 mixed-use development, accomodating a five-star boutique hotel with about 80 rooms. Total investment in the residential section of the project is estimated to total around EUR 26mln. The construction work is scheduled to begin next September and due for completion in two years. The company plans to put the apartments up for sale. Historic Lodges will have a life equivalent to the real estate project for which it was established, ending after the sale of all residential units.