The University of Cambridge has swapped its advisers midway through the disposal of a £300m development site just outside the city centre.
JLL will take over from Cushman & Wakefield in closing the deal for the 2.7-acre site at 1-3 Hills Road, which is under offer to Longfellow Real Estate Partners. The change comes as the university looks to restructure the transaction, seeking involvement beyond its currently agreed role as freeholder in bringing forward a scheme on the site.
US investor-operator Longfellow is under offer as development partner for a new 150-year institutional lease with a 10% rental gearing. The firm is understood to be paying around £60m for the leasehold.
The Hills Road development opportunity has been dragged back and forth on the market over the past year, with bids from the likes of British Land, BioMed and Stanhope failing to satisfy the seller.
The site has the potential to deliver 253,794 sq ft of workspace, including laboratories. The scheme has been designed by Pilbrow & Partners and was conceived as part of a feasibility study exploring the development potential of the site.
There is a mix of buildings on the site. The largest block is known as the Examination Syndicate Building, measuring 118,114 sq ft and formerly occupied by Cambridge Assessment, a commercial subsidiary of the university. It has been vacant since 2018.
Other buildings include Drosier House and 1-4 Gonville Terrace Villas, totalling 3,251 sq ft and 9,785 sq ft respectively. In addition, there is a surface-level car park to the rear of the existing buildings.
If the redevelopment scheme is to go ahead, it is proposed that all buildings other than Drosier House will be demolished.
Longfellow entered the UK in June 2022 through the purchase of the 42-acre Capital Park life sciences and innovation campus in Cambridge, which it rebranded as CamLife in October last year.
Image © Pilbrow & Partners
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