Curlew Student Trust (CST) has completed the acquisition of four new forward funding schemes, taking its total number of rooms at completion to more than 7,000 bed spaces.
CST is a joint venture launched by CBRE Global Investment Partners (CBRE GIP) and Curlew Capital in 2013 to invest in student property. It is operated by Curlew Alternative Asset Management.
The latest schemes include Lime Street in Liverpool where CST provided regeneration specialist Sigma and developer Neptune Developments with funding to create 28,000 sq ft of retail and leisure units, a 101-bedroom hotel, pre-let to Premier Inn, and a 412-bedroom student accommodation building.
The trust also completed its first acquisition on the south coast after contracting VHML to buy Vincent’s Walk, a 283 student bed development in Southampton with ancillary additional commercial space at ground floor level. The scheme, next to Houndwell Park, will be delivered in 2017.
Curlew also plans to add to its existing Potterrow holdings, home to Edinburgh University’s Students Union, with a second smaller scheme with local partner KR Developments. The scheme is immediately next to the Festival theatre.
Meanwhile last week CST announced it has agreed to forward fund the student accommodation element of Clearbell’s £30m Riverwalk redevelopment in Durham. CST will own up to 253 student accommodation units above the redeveloped and repositioned Riverwalk shopping centre in this prime location on the Durham waterfront.
The accommodation will be built as part of the £30m redevelopment by Clearbell which also includes 35,000 sq ft of new restaurants, 23 refurbished retail units and enhanced public realm, anchored by a 20,000 sq ft, six-screen Odeon cinema, the largest in the area.
Alex Bignell, Head of UK at CBRE Global Investment Partners said: “We are excited to see our UK student accommodation venture with Curlew continue to grow. The latest acquisitions are in prime locations within leading British university cities and we are confident that they will prove to be attractive investments for our clients”
