Greystar Real Estate Partners and Henderson Park have agreed with Tide Construction to buy a 550-apartment residential development at 101 George Street in Croydon, London.
This is the second investment Henderson Park and Greystar have made in joint venture into the London residential private rented sector (PRS), following their $197m (€158.2m) acquisition of a 172-unit Central London residential portfolio from Barratt Developments in March last year.
The development site, at 101 George Street, has full planning permission and the transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2018.
In November last year, Croydon Council voted to approve plans for a $1.8bn regeneration scheme, anchored by a new Westfield and Hammerson shopping centre, that will deliver over 1.5m sqft of retail and leisure space.
The plans were approved by the Mayor of London in January 2018 and construction work is scheduled to commence in 2019.
Once completed, the development will comprise two of the world’s tallest towers built using modular construction, at 44-storeys and 38-storeys.
Greystar will manage the apartments with a full-time on-site team.
Mark Allnutt, Greystar’s UK managing director, said: “101 George Street is a strategically significant deal for Greystar and helps us move closer to our target of delivering 10,000 multifamily units in London by 2022.
“It also means that, when operational, we will have large-scale multifamily developments in four areas of London – Greenford in West London, Sailmakers in East London, Nine Elms in central London and now Croydon in south London.”
Nick Weber, a founding partner of Henderson Park, said: “This significant acquisition provides us with further critical mass in London’s residential PRS market.”
This programme of investment will further increase demand for homes and 101 George Street, with its fast modular building methods, will provide much needed supply across all levels of affordability, Weber said.
Christy Hayes, the chief executive officer of Tide Construction, said: “The towers of 101 George Street will stand tall as testimony to the potential of modular construction within the UK and beyond.”
Hayes added that modular construction is highly suited to rental developments as investors and operators can welcome residents into their homes sooner and open the revenue streams earlier.
