Legal & General Investment Management has agreed to forward fund a 338-flat build-to-rent scheme at Leith Docks in Edinburgh, with an end value expected in excess of £80m.
The Skyliner development comprises four buildings in up to 14-storey towers, with a public boardwalk and ground floor commercial and amenity space, located on Ocean Drive to the north of the city centre.
The acquisition from S1 Developments will be L&G’s second scheme in Scotland, after Buchanan Wharf in Glasgow.
In January EG revealed that L&G had acquired the £85m, 324-flat scheme from Drum Property Group.
A spokesman for LGIM said: “We are committed to bringing forward this scheme and delivering our second BTR development. Exchange, however, is subject to a number of conditions being met and not currently assured.”
LGIM and S1 Developments have submitted a planning application for an intensified scheme, superseding the previous approval for 245 units granted at the end of last year. It has been designed by CDA Architects. Scarlett Land and Developments advised L&G on the acquisition.
The deal comes two years after L&G’s first Scottish BTR foray at Fountainbridge was scuppered by the dismantling of Edinburgh Council’s arms-length development company, EDI. The council owns the freehold to the site and brought the development back in-house. It has since been reviewing options to bring forward a larger, mixed-use development on the banks of the River Clyde, and will begin its search for a new development partner later this year.
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