London & Regional has sold two blocks in the centre of the Square Mile’s insurance district to student housing company Urbanest.
The low-profile Livingstone brothers’ property company received planning consent in January 2014 for a 270,000 sq ft mixed-use scheme at Emperor House at 35-36 Vine Street and Roman Wall House at 1-2 Crutched Friars, both EC3.
However, last year they instructed Savills to sell the buildings. Urbanest has agreed to pay close to the £40m asking price.
It is likely to be the largest student residence in the City. The closest similar development is Urbanest’s neighbouring 177-bed property, Urban Tower Bridge, EC3.
Industry experts estimated that the development could include more than 900 beds.
L&R received consent to build a 10-storey office and retail development across the sites following repeated separate attempts to bring forward a large scheme.
Urbanest already has 3,000 student beds in schemes at Regent’s Canal in St Pancras, WC1; King’s Cross, WC1; Hoxton, N1; Tower Bridge, EC3; and Westminster Bridge, SE1.
Urbanest’s neighbouring scheme at Tower Bridge comprises 177 rooms and commands weekly rents of £279 for an en suite room and £237 for a private room.
Its most recent acquisition was a car park in Miles Street, SW8, which it bought from CLS Holdings for £24.8m, where it is planning 454 beds.
Analysis: development can’t keep up with London’s rising student numbers
According to JLL, London’s full-time student population is expected to rise by 50% over the next 10 years, exacerbating the existing shortfall in student housing supply. The London Mayor’s Academic Forum expects a further rise of 147,000 full-time students, which means the city needs 3,000 more student beds a year. According to Knight Frank, London has the UK’s largest pipeline of both university and private sector stock. The capital also has the largest shortfall of purpose-built student accommodation relative to numbers. Despite a single year’s delivery of more than 5,000 student bedrooms, Knight Frank predicts that 70% of students will be unable to access purpose-built student accommodation.
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