Record producer-turned-football club chairman Pete Winkelman has secured £55m of funding to bring forward a retail park development around Milton Keynes’ football stadium.
Aviva Investors has agreed to forward-fund the development of the 240,000 sq ft retail park, which is anchored by a 150,000 sq ft Marks & Spencer.
The deal reflects a 5.5% yield.
Consent for the scheme, where talks are also under way to secure one or more of the Arcadia fashion brands, is expected to be granted shortly.
Completion is scheduled for early 2012.
Winkelman is understood to be keen to use cash raised from the forward sale to invest in the 22,000-seat Stadium:MK, home to the MK Dons.
Milton Keynes is one of 12 host cities for England’s 2018 World Cup bid, and the stadium would need to boost its capacity to 45,000 if selected.
Winkelman, through his development company Inter MK, owns almost 75 acres around the MK Dons ground, which he pieced together from a number of landowners, including English Partnerships (now the Homes & Communities Agency), Milton Keynes council and the Parks Trust.
Activity in the forward-funding market has been picking up over recent months, with a number of funds providing cash for development projects.
Earlier this month, LaSalle Investment Management agreed to forward-purchase a 165,000 sq ft mixed-use scheme in Leigh, Lancashire.
It paid developer Salmon Harvester Properties £48m – a 5.47% yield – for the project at Spinning Jenny Way.
Morgan Williams advised Inter MK; Stockford Staunton acted for Aviva.
samantha.mcclary@estatesgazette.com
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