UK: ASK Partners and OakNorth Bank have granted a £56.2 million loan to development company RE Capital for a hotel-led project in Clerkenwell, London.
Located on the site of a Victorian school building and car park, the scheme will feature a new build 153-bed hotel, 18,700 square feet of office space, and nine new-build residential units.
A pre-let agreement is already in place between RE Capital and Ruby Hotels for a 30-year term.
Building work has already begun, led by HG Construction. The offices are due to be completed in February next year with the hotel and residential arm following in July.
Simon Banks, head of UK at RE Capital, said: “We are excited to be launching the construction phase of this mixed-use scheme, which will bring significant regeneration to the local area. The development will be finished to exceptionally high sustainability, wellness and connectivity standards, focusing on cutting-edge interior design for the newly evolving workplace, alongside the quality that Ruby Hotels will deliver as a highly reputable brand. We are delighted to have ASK and OakNorth Bank as our valued funding partners on this project.”
Daniel Austin, co-founder and CEO of ASK, said: “This is a fantastic scheme that we were delighted to fund. Having funded a number of hotel and office schemes this year, we are fully confident in the recovery of both these markets post-Covid, as the current take up of office space and steady rise in hotel occupancy proves. Having provided a £12.5m bridge loan against this site in April 2020, we were pleased to continue our involvement in this excellent scheme by funding the development phase. I look forward to seeing the plans come to fruition.”
Hemesh Patel, director of property finance at OakNorth Bank, added: “Under Simon Bank’s leadership in the UK, RE Capital has built an exceptionally strong reputation within the real estate investment market and we’re delighted to once again co-lend with ASK to support the development of this well-designed scheme. Given its central location close to a number of top tourist attractions, wide range of amenities and office buildings, we expect the new hotel to see strong demand from both corporates and tourists. Furthermore, the office space has the potential to become one of the most renowned sites in the ‘City Fringe’ area and will certainly be highly desirable in the new post-Covid flight-to-quality marketplace.”
RE Capital were advised by Katten Muchin Rosenman and ASK and OakNorth were advised by Mischon de Reya.
