FINANCE: Barclays has agreed to lend more than £200m to the King’s Cross Central Limited Partnership to develop further offices and residential units at the N1 project.
The agreement will include the redevelopment of the Gasholders 10, 11 and 12, which will include 145 new flats. The entities were previously part of Pancras Gasworks, once the largest gasworks in London.
They are considered to be the residential “jewel in the crown” at the 67-acre scheme, which is being developed by the partnership led by Argent, which includes Hermes, DHL Supply Chain, Australian Super and London & Continental Railways. The Wilkinson Eyre Architects-designed element of the project will include studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom flats with views over Regent’s Canal.
The deal also includes the funding of office blocks totalling more than 200,000 sq ft. The partnership still has 1m sq ft of office space to develop to the north of the canal in areas known as zone S and zone T.
Barclays was part of a club of banks including Deutsche Postbank, HSBC and Hypothekenbank Frankfurt that provided £250m of debt to the developer in January last year.
This underwrite, which it is undertaking on its own, reflects the bank’s confidence in residential development and the strength of the lending market.
Earlier this month Barclays was one of four banks that provided £620m to Canary Wharf Group for its development of the next residential phase of its east London complex, previously known as Wood Wharf.
The deal is also a coup for King’s Cross, which has convinced lenders to push the envelope already this year. In February Royal Bank of Scotland agreed to lend £100m to the partnership to speculatively develop the 170,000 sq ft Four Pancras Square, NW1.
Argent declined to comment.
david.hatcher@estatesgazette.com
