Criterion ramps up resi with Greenwich BTR

Criterion Capital is ramping up its residential development with plans for 750 build-to-rent homes in a mixed-use scheme at Maritime View in Greenwich, SE10. The London developer, which is led by billionaire Asif Aziz, acquired the site from Morgan Stanley last summer and committed to a £250m investment in a 100% affordable housing scheme. It has since created the company Criterion Affordable Homes, under the Cayman Islands registered Hiro Holdings, with chief operating officer Marc Sandfort listed as director. Criterion has big plans to develop and hold BTR and is understood to have been acquiring a number of sites during lockdown to significantly grow its platform. In a request for an Environmental Impact Assessment for the development of Maritime View at Enderby Wharf, it outlines plans for three tower blocks of 23, 28 and 32 storeys. The plans also include 18,000 sq ft of office space, a restaurant and cafe and new public open space. Criterion is in discussions with Greenwich Council on the need to deliver a Thames Clipper jetty as part of the current planning application and has planned for the two scenarios – with or without the jetty. The plans supersede Morgan Stanley’s proposals (pictured) for 770 homes, a 250-bedroom hotel and a controversial London City Cruise Port, planned in 2012. Development is expected to commence in autumn in 2021 with completion by early 2025. Criterion is best known for its vast Leicester Square empire, including the London Trocadero. The investor has been quiet since the Brexit referendum, but broke its silence with the acquisition of Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court early last year. At the time it said it would create an affordable rental product of smaller one-bedroom flats rented at rates close to the mayor’s London living rent rates, with a vision to build a portfolio of 15,000 flats in London. To date Criterion Capital’s 1,367 unit rental portfolio held in its Miflats business has been grown through permitted development rights and conversions. However, the business has said its future pipeline will focus on purpose-built developments across London and the home counties, in areas that demonstrate a need for an affordable rental product at scale. Future schemes also include plans for 342 flats at Naval Row in the East India docks and around 300 homes at New Colliers Wood, in Wimbledon. To send feedback, e-mail emma.rosser@egi.co.uk or tweet @EmmaARosser or @estatesgazette