Select Property Group acquire historic York site for student village project

A historic site located in York will undergo a major renovation in September, and be transformed into a student village with over 600 beds built on the 6.3 acre site.

Global developer, retailer and operator of property investment brands, Select Property Group, has acquired the land premises at St Joseph’s Convent on Lawrence Street.

The project has a gross development value of £73m.

Situated within walking distance of the city centre, the site will provide 649 beds to accommodate York’s growing student population and will become first ever student village from Vita Student.

The project will include a complete refurbishment of the convent and an additional 14 three and four storey buildings will be constructed with extensive landscaped grounds included in the scheme.

Select Property Group’s Vita Student brand, the UK’s only experience-led student accommodation provider, will develop, manage and let the entire project.

The company has already experienced significant success in six existing locations across the UK with sites in Bristol, Exeter, Manchester, Liverpool, Southampton and Sheffield, providing students with state-of-the-art studios and facilities including gyms, movie theatres and bespoke study areas.

Mark Stott, CEO of Select Property Group, said: “This prime site in York presents a unique opportunity to deliver distinctive, high quality accommodation in this popular student city. Its proximity to both the city centre and University of York has made it an optimum location we’ve been keen to secure for some time.

“Our revolutionary end-to-end service means that we develop, let and manage our properties, ensuring the best possible service for customers. This is an ideal addition to our existing portfolio of more than 1000 student beds across leading university towns and cities throughout the UK.”

The build is scheduled to begin in September 2015.