Octopus Real Estate complete £10m loan on prime 327-unit site in central Manchester

By Bridging Loan Directory 19th October 2021

Octopus Real Estate, part of Octopus Group and a leading UK specialist real estate lender and investor, has completed a £10 million loan secured on a prime development site with planning consent for a 327-unit apartment block, in central Manchester.

The lender provided both the asset loan and a VAT loan for the acquisition.

The former mill in Deansgate, is the last prime central Manchester development site with full residential planning consent.

At 35 storeys it will be one of the city’s tallest buildings and will provide commanding views over the city centre and across Lancashire.

The developers, Featherfoot Holdings Limited, intend for development to start in Q2 2022 and to include commercial space at ground and first floor levels, a resident’s gym, rooftop bar & terrace, communal lounge facilities and a café.

Dominic Gibson, Investment Director, Octopus Real Estate, commented:

“This is an extremely well-located site that benefits from having a great planning consent. It will support the delivery of new housing stock in an established and important urban centre with strong public transport links.

We are delighted to have supported Featherfoot Holdings Limited, a proven investor-developer, to acquire the asset and believe that the completed scheme will attract strong demand.

Having opened our Manchester Office in 2019 we’ve been able to significantly enhance our support of regional real estate investment.

Completing this loan, introduced by Manchester based advisors Adapt Finance, further demonstrates Octopus Real Estate’s commitment to Manchester, and the UK’s regional cities.”

Jordan McBriar, Managing Director, Adapt Finance, commented:

“We’ve worked with Octopus Real Estate for over a decade. We had absolutely no hesitation in approaching them with this funding requirement.

Acquisition timings were tight, and our client needed absolute confidence that their investment would be funded without delay.

The Octopus team removed any uncertainty from the process and delivered exactly what they’d promised.

Not only does this performance support our clients, but it supports the Adapt Finance business as certainty is key in every financing.”

Paul Rothwell, CEO, Featherfoot Holdings Limited, commented:

“Adapt Finance worked tirelessly to put together the best possible funding package to support our purchase of this key Deansgate site.

They identified Octopus Real Estate as being best suited to the loan and were absolutely spot on. Octopus funded both the acquisition and the VAT on the deal, which removed the hassle of having multiple lenders.

They were quick, commercial and easy to deal with, and I look forward to working with them on our future investments.”