Funds advised by Round Hill Capital and Kuwaiti wealth manager NBK Capital have acquired a 368-bed student accommodation development in The Liberties area of Dublin 8.
Financial details were not disclosed.
The site was purchased from Summix, an urban mixed-use regeneration project specialist, with whom Round Hill Capital plans to partner on additional student accommodation developments in Ireland.
Faisal Al-Hamad, CEO of NBK Capital, said: 'NBK Capital is pleased to partner with Round Hill Capital to fund student accommodation developments in Ireland. Dublin is an attractive city with quality higher education institutes, and we are pleased to be able to play a part in developing and supporting the local and wider community.'
The development, located on the former ‘Brewery Block’ site adjacent to Newmarket Square, will preserve protected structures to create a five-storey red brick tower with a gross development value of €85 mln.
Construction of the new development will commence in July 2020 following the completion of demolition works. It will take two years, ready for occupation in September 2022 and in time for the 2022/23 academic year. Nido Student will manage the development.
'We are pleased to have acquired this prime 368-bed purpose-built student accommodation development project in Dublin, Ireland, which is well-located within the Newmarket regeneration area,' said Michael Bickford, Founder and CEO at Round Hill Capital.
This is Round Hill Capital’s third student accommodation investment in Ireland, following the acquisition of a 145-bed development on Farranlea Road in Cork in December 2018 which was delivered in a strategic planning partnership with Summix.
Round Hill Capital has also invested in a 216-unit apartment development called Bridgefield in Santry, Dublin 9. The firm currently has under development over 7,000 apartments and student accommodation beds in the UK, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, the Netherlands and Ireland.
'We recognise that areas of the student and residential housing markets in Ireland suffer from persisting structural supply constraints and we look forward to helping alleviate these pressures and significantly further expanding Round Hill Capital’s business in Ireland and across Europe,' Bickford concluded.
