MIPIM 2018: Manchester Science Partnership’s 92,000 sq ft Citylabs 2.0 laboratory and office facility has been awarded an £18.5m loan from funds managed by CBRE.
CBRE’s investment advisory team has provided £12.5m of funding from Evergreen 2, a debt fund targeting commercial property and regeneration developments in Greater Manchester with a focus on low-carbon projects.
The balance came from the fund’s predecessor, North West Evergreen Fund, which has provided more than £115m of debt finance to developments including Peel’s MediaCity in Salford.
Citylabs 2.0 is a joint venture partnership between Manchester Science Partnership and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, and was developed by Bruntwood – the majority shareholder in Manchester Science Partnerships.
The scheme and its second phase, Citylabs 3.0, are part of a £60m expansion of Europe’s largest clinical-academic campus, creating a UK hub for developments in predictive and preventative medicine.
Citylabs 2.0 will also be part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.
Tom Renn, managing director of Manchester Science Partnerships, said: “At Citylabs 2.0 we are committed to creating a world-leading hub for biomedical innovation and discovery and this funding from Evergreen 2 means we can soon begin construction work on the first stage of our plan to expand the campus in partnership with Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.”
Andrew Antoniades, a senior director for CBRE Investment Advisory, said: “Traditional clearing banks remain averse to lending outside core areas or where significant prelets have not been agreed.
“There is, therefore, an opportunity for alternative lenders such as Evergreen 2 to achieve attractive returns while simultaneously acting as the catalyst for developments that will have wide reaching socio-economic benefits for the region in the long-term.”
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