L&G Completes £39m Loan to Regenerate Housing Site in Whitechapel
LGIM Real Assets (L&G) has completed a three-year loan of £39m to a fund managed by GreenOak Real Estate in order to regenerate a housing site in Whitechapel.
This is the shortest loan term to date that L&G has provided. It was arranged on behalf of Legal & General Retirement by Legal & General’s Private Credit business – part of LGIM Real Assets.
The loan, which replaces an existing bank loan facility, is secured against 160,000 square feet of mixed-use space in Whitechapel. 50% of the site is arranged as private rental sector accommodation, comprising 181 studios, flats and houses. The rest of the asset is commercial space let mainly to a single, strong credit tenant.
The loan will help pave the way for GreenOak Real Estate’s longer term goal of redeveloping the site, demonstrating how L&G’s money can help support positive urban regeneration, boosting housing and jobs, and better utilising existing infrastructure.
The Lending Manager of LGIM Real Assets, Steve Boyle, comments on the deal: “At three years, this is the shortest dated loan that we have yet provided, demonstrating the breadth of our lending capabilities and proving the platform’s ability to provide competitively priced debt at the shorter end of the market. This is the very essence of a mixed-use site, but provides us with robust income streams from both its private rental sector and commercial uses.”
Toby Phelps, a Partner at GreenOak Real Estate, adds: “Whitechapel remains a highly strategic location, with next year’s arrival of Crossrail providing further impetus for the continued attractiveness of the area. After actively managing this site to significantly increase income, whilst maintaining near full occupancy, we have been able to secure new financing that allows us to lower costs, while continuing to pursue our longer term goal of redeveloping the site.”
This latest deal is just part of the work L&G is doing to invest in housing. Just this week, it revealed its turn-key modular housing prototype, designed to help tackle the housebuilding crisis.