Starz Real Estate (“Starz”) has provided £25.0m of senior financing to Clearbell Property Partners III LP (“Clearbell”), a fund managed by Clearbell Capital LLP, to facilitate the refinancing and letting of a life sciences property located in the London’s Kings Cross station’s immediate vicinity. Since acquisition by Clearbell , the asset subsequently underwent a comprehensive renovation and repositioning from office-use to best-in-class life science specifications.
Originally built in 1992 and benefitting from Use Class E, the newly refurbished building offers c. 30,000 sq. ft of grade A space suitable for office and both dry and wet laboratories and achieved strong ESG certifications, including BREEAM ‘Excellent’, WiredScore ‘Platinum’ and EPC B. The scheme includes a brand new reception, a large secure inner courtyard for deliveries, a 1,100 sq. ft landscaped roof terrace and new end-of-trip facilities across five floors. With floorplates averaging 5,000 sq. ft, the property is well positioned to meet London’s life sciences demand, the bulk of which revolving around the 0-10k sq. ft size band.
Located on Gray’s Inn Road, the property is situated within London’s ‘Knowledge Quarter’, a small zone situated around King’s Cross, Euston Road and Bloomsbury which is renowned for being a prime life science cluster due to the concentration of scientific and research institutions and universities in the surroundings, including the Francis Crick biomedical research institute and the Wellcome Trust headquarters, along with key transport links.
Grégoire Millet, Director at Starz Real Estate, said: “We are thrilled to have partnered on this refinancing transaction with Clearbell Capital who is a highly experienced and knowledgeable investor within the London property market. The subject property benefits from robust real estate fundamentals and Clearbell have done an outstanding job refurbishing it to allow for significant value creation under life sciences use.”
Alice Murray, Head of Asset Management and Sustainability at Clearbell, said: “The life sciences sector is one of the most exciting growth areas in the UK, but there is still a chronic undersupply of flexible lab space to support this demand. That’s why we saw the huge potential of 85 Grays Inn Road to bring more high-quality lab and office space to London’s Knowledge Quarter. With the support of funding from Starz we are able to make this a reality, and we are looking forward to seeing the innovations that now come out of the businesses based here.”
Clearbell Capital were advised by Brotherton, Creative Places, Travers Smith, Knight Frank and Hollis; and Starz by Taylor Wessing, Fladgate and Appleby on the financing. Cushman & Wakefield provided valuation services.
About Starz Real Estate:
Launched in July 2018, Starz is a commercial real estate lender focused on middle-market loans throughout Europe. With a balance sheet built for the long haul, Starz is a flexible and reliable source of capital for real estate investors. Starz provides collaborative lending solutions coupled with streamlined underwriting processes that ensures seamless service.
About Clearbell Capital LLP:
Clearbell Capital LLP is an independently owned private equity real estate fund management and advisory business specialising in UK property investment, development and asset management. The firm is led by experienced real estate investment professionals with long-established UK market expertise spanning multiple cycles and across various property types. Clearbell manages capital from investors around the world, including pension funds, fund of funds and not-for-profit investors.
Clearbell seeks to identify undervalued opportunities across a number of property sectors in the UK and to maximise returns by applying its investment and asset management expertise.
For further information, please go to www.clearbell.com