Octopus Property provides £3.27m acquisition loan for West London residential scheme

By Bridging Loan Directory 19th January 2018

Specialist property lender Octopus Property (“OP”), part of the Octopus Group, has agreed to provide FRT Developments (“FRT”), specialists in asset regeneration, with a £3.27 million loan, for the acquisition of an office building in Isleworth, West London.

FRT successfully secured enhanced planning consent for conversion and extension of the former office building into 51 residential apartments, arranged over four floors including a new two story extension. Located on St John’s Road, the building is a short walk from Isleworth train station, which offers fast access into Central London, as well as being adjacent to one of West London’s largest parks; the Royal Botanical Gardens.

Secured at a 70% LTV, this is the first loan that OP has provided to FRT Developments and will see the borrower benefit from OP’s unique Lifecycle Lending proposition, launched in January 2017. The short term finance will roll into a development facility once project value engineering has been completed. Lifecycle Lending will eliminate the duplication of reporting, underwriting and arrangement fees, potentially saving the borrower considerable amounts of time and money.

James Nunn, Fund Manager at Octopus Property, commented:

“As our second Commercial Fund builds on the success of its predecessor, we are delighted that our exposure to fast-growing, dynamic borrowers, such as FRT, continues to grow apace. We relish the opportunity to support borrowers with exciting portfolios of value-add assets and are aware that more traditional lenders are continually unwilling or unable to provide the fast and flexible funding solutions required to get schemes of this nature off the ground. As a result borrowers are increasingly turning to specialist property lenders like OP, who can support them from inception to completion using a range of lending products.”

Tom Mees, Director at FRT Developments, added:

“FRT Developments is delighted to have completed this first loan facility with Octopus Property. They’ve understood our requirements from outset and structured a flexible multi-phased facility to support this scheme. Nomadic House, which has recently been granted planning permission for 51 flats, will be the third and largest scheme that we’ve undertaken in Isleworth, following the successful completion of Capital House and Prospect House.”