Legacie secures £60m Merseyside Pension Fund loan
The funding will assist the developer in its £140m transformation of the grade two-listed former Heaps Rice Mill off Park Lane in Liverpool.
Merseyside Pension Fund has agreed to loan £60m to Legacie Developments as part of its Catalyst Fund to help with the redevelopment of the mill into 620 apartments, as well as an underground spa and museum.
This fund seeks to aid economic growth in Liverpool city centre, and recognises the 200 jobs and local training opportunities that the scheme will create.
Falconer Chester Hall designed the Heaps Rice Mill project, which is being delivered across five phases to create a mix of one- and two-bedroom city centre flats.
John Morley, founder and chief executive of Legacie Developments, said: “The investment will help us bring to life a historic Liverpool landmark – unlocking local jobs, training opportunities, and economic growth.
“Having the support of such a prestigious pension fund is a big vote of confidence in our company and the largest funding deal in Legacie’s 10-year history.”
Hill Dickinson advised Legacie Developments on the deal. CBRE is a retained advisor to Merseyside Pension Fund.
Henry Randolph, senior director of CBRE Capital Advisors, commented: “[The loan] is a great example of how a local authority pension fund can invest in their own region while maintaining strict risk controls and achieving a commercial return.
“At Heaps Mill, the quality of design, provision of amenities, and proximity to the best areas of the city will help to make this an attractive scheme for residents.”
Cllr Pat Cleary, chairman of the Merseyside Pension Fund’s committee, added: “Despite Liverpool being an increasingly attractive city to live and work in, housing completions have remained a fraction of their pre-financial crisis levels, especially for quality schemes with strong environmental credentials, such as Heaps Mill.
“As well as helping to alleviate the housing crisis in Liverpool, the units will be far more environmentally friendly than existing stock, utilising air-source heat pumps, MVHR systems, and retaining the historic Heaps Mill building fabric in the redevelopment.”
Previously used by Joseph Heap & Sons, which once ground rice for Kellogg’s Rice Krispies, the mill has been vacant since 2005.
Work started on site in December and is due to complete in 2025.
The redevelopment of the mill has been a long time coming.
Developer One Park Lane won planning consent for the site’s redevelopment in 2014 and Inhabit bought the plot a year later.
In 2019, a joint venture between Elliot Lawless and Valorem Investment Partners’ Anthony Maxwell-Jones bought the site with the intention of redeveloping it.
However, no work had taken place in the eight years since planning permission was granted until late last year.
We will of course have posters on here complaining about luxury flats for the better off but Liverpool needs to lure back it`s middle class, as I get tired of the mantra of proud working-class city, you don`t have to consider yourself working class to be a decent, honest , caring, person.
We have ample room in this city for what is known as affordable housing, look around Scotland Road for example, acres of wasteland some of which has had numerous planning applications for housing , but these have been shouted down by locals in the area.
Heaps Mill is an important heritage building and if this is the best way to save it`s fabric then so be it.
By Anonymous
Well done Legacie, great deal for the City.
By Alex McCann
It will be great to see this important city centre building brought back into use . The mill will ensure at least some character and history remains in the city . Next to this development is the former police HQ , the most important development site in the city . Real quality needed .
By George
Well said Anonymous@5.46 &George how refreshing to have sensible and informed comment about our city rather than 1970,s political doctrine . It should not be considered offensive to improve the city with quality construction or to attract well paid professionals . We need to move on and look forward and stop trying to take on the world. We have so much to be positive about.
By Paul M - Woolton
The development looks amazing. Let us just have more of the same please!
By Brendan R
Hi Anonymous – some of your comments are a bit off the mark. Liverpool does have a middle class, not that thats any great thing to shout about- and it also has a rich history of working and well paid jobs some people do stay in the areas that they were born in despite having good jobs – including Scotland Road, Vauxhall, Everton and Anfield. Is this not how areas decline when people get a job and move on?
By Bob Dawson
That extension looks terrible
By Anonymous
Well done, gentlemen, for staying the course with this one. And well done to the pension fund, too.
By Sceptical
It’s just jealousy ignore it
By Anonymous
“Falconer Chester Hall designed the Heaps Rice Mill project”. Are FCH the delivery architect? Worry about how this prominent site will look if value engineered
By Anonymous
Liverpool does not escape the juliet balcony curse either!
By Balcony Warrior