12/04/2017
Award-winning London developer LBS Properties has secured a freehold office development site in Angel, Islington N1 for £12.6 million, simultaneously securing funding from Cheyne Capital for the delivery of a new 36,000 sq ft office scheme.
Located at 65-70 White Lion Street, a three-minute walk from both the popular Upper Street and Angel underground station, the cleared freehold development site spans 0.29 acres and has planning permission for a high quality new development arranged over six floors.
LBS Properties has secured a £24 million debt facility from alternative asset manager Cheyne Capital, allowing the delivery of the proposed scheme, designed by Tasou Associates. The new development is intended to achieve a BREEAM rating of “Excellent” and will include high levels of natural daylight throughout with glazed frontages and internal light wells, with average floor to ceiling heights of three metres. There will be expansive roof terraces, two passenger lifts and 64 bicycle spaces, plus shower facilities at basement level. Construction is due to start later this year.
Angel is one of most popular areas in the wider City Fringe market, with a wide array of amenities and excellent transport connections from Angel underground station, providing fast access to Kings Cross, the City and West End. A number of new mixed use developments have emerged across N1 in the past few years, adding to the retail offering and cementing Angel as a key submarket for TMT and other sectors.
Nick Crawford, Managing Director at LBS Properties, comments: “This represents an exciting opportunity to deliver an outstanding new office building, located right at the centre of the Angel submarket. We are delighted to have simultaneously closed the development funding with Cheyne, who share our vision for the scheme – we expect to begin construction this year and complete the building in 2019. We are confident the high-quality design, extensive outside spaces and excellent sustainability credentials will make this an attractive option for a wide variety of tenants”.
Arron Taggart, of Cheyne Capital, comments: “Cheyne is delighted to be assisting with the financing of this high-quality office project which we believe has strong fundamentals. The quality of location, target market, specification and most importantly, Sponsor, provides us with a great deal of comfort in funding this sort of development. We see these sorts of attributes, as well as our ability to provide a risk adjusted, innovative approach, as important differentiators and key to navigating what could be a challenging market environment over the next couple of years.”