Mount’s £55m Liverpool PBSA bought out of administration
Blacklight Capital Partners has purchased Natex, a 574-apartment student accommodation scheme off Norton Street, and rebranded it as Limelight.
The deal is understood to have been more than £10m.
Falconer Chester Hall had designed Limelight, then Natex, for Mount Property Group. Under those plans, Limelight would have a 10-storey and 16-storey block. Those two blocks would be filled with 81 studio apartments and 493 cluster units, as well as various amenity areas. The scheme had a GDV of £45m at the time.
Natex topped out in January last year but hit a roadblock when the SPV attached to it, Mount Group Student Natex, went into administration in October. Administrator Mazars reported that the SPV owed £39m to creditors.
Blacklight has taken full ownership of the project, which had been a fractional sales scheme. Under changes made by Blacklight, Limelight’s GDV has increased to £55m. Work has already begun onsite as well. Blacklight aims to open Limelight for the beginning of the September 2023 academic year.
This is not Blacklight’s first foray into purpose-built student accommodation in Liverpool, having worked with investors of Elliot Group’s Aura to deliver the scheme after Elliot Group went into administration. Aura, now known as True Student Liverpool, completed in July.
The acquisition of Limelight is the first purchase under Blacklight’s financing partnership with RoundShield. This partnership is focused on residential rental and PBSA schemes. Accordingly, Blacklight is on the hunt for more centrally located city sites that are suitable for the development of more than 100 apartments.
Great news the ball is now starting to role again in Liverpool a lot of new cranes are appearing on the skyline
By Anonymous
Light at the end of a dark tunnel, a few other schemes on Islington waiting to re-start too. Also things appear to be happening along Leeds Street , but no sign of Infinity getting back on site , meanwhile Torus need to clarify what`s happening at the Atrium building in Baltic which has stalled possibly due to a failed builder.
Two important ones that need picking up are the Norton site , in Baltic, which is for sale, and if only someone like Legacie would take the Chinatown project on Great George Street.
By Anonymous
Just three more to go from Mount
By eric
Re the Torus Baltic site , yes delay caused by building company being unable to complete the build . Arrangements now in place to recommence this development in the near future .
By Graham Burgess
Great news! Hopefully the rest of the stalled projects can be bought out
By Michael
@Anonymous, Infinity will never happen. The concrete core by Vermont is effectively a tombstone. The original investors (who now own the site) will sadly never get anyone to take on the risk to finish the build. It would need a complete re-start, which effectively makes the land worthless.
I understand Torus have taken back control of the Atrium development and will complete it themselves. Work is apparently restarting imminently.
Great George Street is currently being marketed by the receivers for £18m. Hopefully it gets picked up by someone soon!
By InTheKnow
Eric – which three Mount projects??
By Max Headroom
We need to see some start on the rice heap mill, if thy ever gets finished it will Be a fabulous redevelopment- also the Norton scrap metal site is perfect for a couple of tall building
By Stuart wood
The Norton site already has full planning permission for a cluster of talls and is now for sale, you would think someone would pick this up and get on site quite quickly.
It feels like the activity at the Baltic has slowed somewhat , especially post Elliot.
By Anonymous
What is the status of those who had invested in Natex?
By Aftab Pirbhai