The Deal Sheet is a weekly compilation of Greater London and beyond's biggest leases, sales, financing deals, construction updates and personnel moves. Have news you’d like to submit? Email mark.faithfull@bisnow.com.
Landsec has acquired an additional 10% stake in the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent for £95M, taking its ownership to 74%.
The deal reflects a 7.4% yield based on the net rental income generated by Landsec’s existing investment, and the company said the acquisition would improve operational flexibility and deliver efficiencies.
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Retail sales at Bluewater rose 7.4% in the five months to 31 August, while footfall increased 3%, outperforming UK national averages of a 1.7% decline in sales and flat footfall.
The Bluewater deal follows Landsec’s agreement to acquire the Metrocentre in Gateshead for £516M, announced on 1 October, and underlines Landsec’s renewed focus on major shopping destinations, with the company targeting a further £1B of investment in the sector over the next one to three years.
Landsec has also identified opportunities to invest in existing centres through extensions, larger anchor stores, and new food and beverage offers.
FUNDING
Maslow Capital has provided a £238M development finance facility to a joint venture between Arada London and the Shaw Corp. for Devonshire Place, a 941-bed student accommodation scheme on the Old Kent Road in Southwark.
The project will include 200 affordable homes, which have been acquired by L&G’s affordable homes division, alongside student accommodation, commercial space and community facilities.
The student accommodation will be delivered across two blocks of 20 to 34 storeys, with completion targeted ahead of the 2029/30 academic year. Arada London’s in-house construction business will act as the main contractor.
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Native Land has secured £132M in development finance for St Mary’s Wharf, a riverside regeneration project in Guildford town centre.
The financing comprises £100M of senior debt from NatWest and £32M of mezzanine financing from the National Housing Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of Homes England.
The scheme will deliver 180 apartments across two buildings, alongside shops, restaurants, public gardens and a riverside walkway. It will also include affordable housing, biodiversity improvements and a fossil-fuel-free energy strategy.
Native Land has completed demolition, major groundworks and flood protection works, and sales are planned to launch in spring 2027, with completion expected before the end of 2028.
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Investec has provided a £21M senior secured loan to Bridges Fund Management and ROK Property to refinance The Edge, a 307-bed student accommodation scheme in Belfast.
The scheme, which reached practical completion in September 2024, is managed by Homes for Students and is located in the Cathedral Quarter next to Ulster University’s £350M Belfast campus.
The Edge comprises 307 studio apartments and communal amenities, including a fitness suite, outdoor space, a private dining room, a cinema room, and meeting and conference facilities.
DEALS
LaSalle Investment Management has acquired a Morrisons supermarket in Plymouth for £22.5M from an institutional investor on behalf of a UK Custom Account client.
The 62K SF store occupies a 6-acre site on Outland Road and is let to Morrisons on a lease with 21 years remaining and CPI-linked rent reviews. The supermarket serves Plymouth’s largest supermarket catchment and ranks among Morrisons’ strongest-performing stores nationally, LaSalle said.
“This acquisition adds long-term, inflation-linked income to our client’s portfolio at an attractive yield,” LaSalle Portfolio Manager, UK Custom Accounts John Longworth said in a statement.
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Orka Investments has acquired Hill View Place, a 226-bed student accommodation scheme in Exeter through its joint venture with a global institutional real estate investor.
The scheme, which opened in 2022, sits next to the University of Exeter’s Streatham Campus and is fully let for the 2026/27 academic year. The acquisition was part-funded by an acquisition loan from Investec Real Estate.
The deal takes the joint venture’s portfolio to 1,512 beds across Birmingham, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Exeter. Including assets outside the venture, Orka’s UK student housing platform totals 2,080 beds across six schemes.
PLANNING
Westminster City Council has secured Gateway 2 approval from the Building Safety Regulator for the second phase of the Ebury Bridge Estate regeneration, clearing the way for major construction works.
The phase will deliver 334 homes as part of a wider redevelopment of the 1930s estate in the Knightsbridge and Belgravia area, and the completed scheme will provide 781 homes across three phases, alongside public squares, a retail parade and communal facilities.
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Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has launched another public consultation on plans to regenerate Croydon town centre, including the Whitgift Centre, Centrale and the former Allders building.
The evolving master plan proposes 2,500 to 3,000 homes, new public spaces, a major public square on the Whitgift site, an updated Centrale shopping centre and the revitalisation of the Allders building.
The proposals also include new shops, restaurants, leisure and cultural venues, alongside improved routes through the town centre.
PEOPLE
Invesco Real Estate has appointed Kevin Grundy as head of real estate, Europe, and Cristiano Stampa as chief investment officer for the region.
Grundy will oversee strategy, operations and financial performance, while Stampa will lead investment strategy and portfolio oversight. Grundy joined Invesco in 2014 and has 30 years of industry experience, while Stampa joined in 2017 and has more than 25 years of real estate experience.
The appointments follow the decision by Invesco Real Estate Head of Europe and Chief Investment Officer Andy Rofe to retire.
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