By Scott Wright
A GLASGOW-based property developer has sold two major student accommodation buildings in a deal described as the biggest of its kind since the UK moved into lockdown in March.
London & Scottish Property Investment Management (LSPIM) offloaded the blocks in Sheffield and Leeds, which currently provide homes for more than 700 students, to an unnamed investor from the Far East.
LSPIM developed and sold the properties for a US-based private investor in what had been its first foray into the purpose-built student accommodation market. It also signalled its appetite to do more deals in the sector, with strong interest from overseas investors in spite of concerns over student numbers for the 2020-21 academic year.
The Sheffield property includes 355 luxury studio bedrooms, developed by LSPIM in the former Crown House office block that it acquired in 2015. The property was opened to students in September 2017.
In Leeds, LSPIM developed the former Symons House office building into a 22-storey block with capacity for 351 beds, which opened in January this year.
Both properties have 8,000 square feet of amenity space with lounges, a study area, private dining space, cinema, games area, fitness suite and outdoor areas with barbecue and open-air cinema.
Stephen Inglis, chief executive of LSPIM, said: “We are very pleased with the level of interest shown in these properties. We have developed a sound business model and have good relationships with both lenders and investors. As a result, these two projects – our first in the student accommodation sector – have been hugely successful for us. Having proved that the model works, we intend to reinvest the proceeds in further projects.”
Rachel Pengilley, partner at Knight Frank, which marketed the properties, said: “This transaction represents the most significant deal in the UK student accommodation market since we entered lockdown in March.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here