Construction has commenced on Birmingham’s first ever purpose-built private rental sector (PRS) project, which was acquired by Rockspring Property Investment Managers in May.
The 11 floor, 334-unit scheme was bought for £50 mln on behalf of Rockspring TransEuropean Property Limited Partnership VI LLP (TEP VI) from Hallmark BY Development, a Bouygues Development and Hallmark Investments joint venture.
'Forming part of the Birmingham Smithfield regeneration area, this is an exciting project for us and is very much in line with our strategic focus on rapidly improving residential sub-markets within dynamic cities that are experiencing high levels of urbanisation and growth,' commented Paul Hampton, Rockspring partner and fund director of the TEP series.
Dubbed The Forum, the 174,000 ft2 project is set for completion in 2018, comprising 262 one-bedroom and 67 two-bedroom apartments, plus five studios. A gym, underground parking and landscaped gardens complete the scheme, which is a ten minute walk from the Bull Ring shopping centre, Birmingham New Street station and Grand Central.
Bouygues UK is the main contractor for the development, while Linkcity has been retained as development manager and the architects are Costorphine + Wright. Atlas is asset manager to the scheme.
Rockspring's TEP VI held a final close in July 2016. With €430 mln equity and leverage of up to 55% it has a total expected firepower of €1.0 bn.
To date, the diversified, pan-European fund has committed €567 mln across eight projects in Geneva, London, Birmingham, Lisbon, Madrid, Berlin and across France, fitting its 'manage to core' strategy.
