Get Living has expanded to Manchester with the acquisition of more than 800 build to rent apartments at Manchester’s Middlewood Locks.
Its owners Delancey Oxford Residential, APG and Qatari Diar have acquired the homes from FairBriar International.
The deal sees the BTR operator pick up 275 flats previously earmarked for sale in the first phase, with its investors forward-funding the delivery of around 546 flats in the second phase.
Get Living will manage the operations for the homes and the public realm.
The 24-acre regeneration at Middlewood Locks has been developed by FairBriar, a joint venture between Scarborough International Properties (50%), Hualing Group of China (25%) and Metro Holdings (25%).
The development near to Salford Central railway will see 2,215 homes, 900,000 sq ft of commercial space, a hotel, gym, restaurants and retail space with an estimated end value of £1bn.
In July, EG reported that Get Living was in advanced talks to acquire 546 homes from FairBriar with an estimated end value of £200m. The BTR operator has since upped its investment, and the additional homes could see this value increase to around £300m.
Phase 1 homes are currently under construction and will go to market in the spring. Get Living’s 275 flats will be available to rent, with a further 296 homes still under FairBriar for sale.
Rick de Blaby, executive chairman of Get Living, said: “The location, the masterplan and the building designs at Middlewood Locks provides us with the homes and public realm that enables Get Living to deliver to residents our market-leading offer to our target residents in Manchester and Salford.”
Paul Brundage, executive vice president and senior managing director for Europe and Asia Pacific of Oxford Properties said: “This transaction demonstrates our commitment to the build-to-rent sector and the UK as a whole. Middlewood Locks is an important next step in delivering on our vision to build the UK’s pre-eminent residential rental platform with our partners.”
Simon Marshall, joint chief executive of Scarborough International Properties, said: “This is a tremendous boost to Middlewood Locks, not just in accelerating the delivery of the overall scheme, but also providing much needed housing to the local area and offering a balance of homes for sale and for rent.”
Scarborough bought the site for £10m in 2012 and secured backing for the project from Singapore-listed Metro Holdings in 2014, with Hualing throwing its financial muscle behind the project the following year. Outline planning was granted in 2015.
The acquisition will bring Get Living’s portfolio to around 3,000 operational homes by the end of 2019, with a pipeline of a further 4,000 units.
Delancey and Qatari Diar set up Get Living after buying the Olympic Village in Stratford in 2011 and it has since become one of the most active players in the PRS market – focusing on at-scale schemes, typically over 700 homes.
In 2016 Dutch pension fund manager APG joined the partnership, while further investment from Canadian pension giant Oxford Properties was revealed by EG at the beginning of 2018.
CBRE and BCLP advised the buyers.
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