Two London developers bag £96m debt facility for central Leeds site

Moda Living and joint venture partner Apache Capital have secured a £96m debt facility from LaSalle to deliver New York Square.

Said to be a 515-home build-to-rent development in Leeds city centre, the deal marks LaSalle’s biggest UK BTR development loan to date.

LaSalle Investment Management had previously funded Apache Capital and Moda’s Liverpool project, The Lexington, with a four-year £58.5m debt facility.

In March 2019, the JV secured £118m in debt funding from Goldman Sachs to fund Birmingham’s tallest consented residential tower the Mercian.

The four-year development loan will mature in mid-2023 and will fund the construction and lease up of New York Square.

Caddick Construction, sister company to Moda Living, has been appointed as main contractor on the £150m GDV project, with start on-site due next month.

Johnny Caddick, managing director at Moda Living and director at Caddick Group, said: “Given the current political climate it is important that people share in the confidence we have in the UK BTR market.

“The regions provide a great opportunity for growth and we are continuing to expand our platform. LaSalle have been a fantastic partner to work with on multiple Moda projects and we are excited about future opportunities and our long-term working relationship with them.”

New York Square forms the first phase of the new SOYO neighbourhood, which is being delivered by Caddick Developments. All three companies are part of family-run, Wetherby-based Caddick Group.

As well as the 515 Moda homes, SOYO will include a new hotel, bars, restaurants, further residential, a multi-storey car park as well as some of the city’s largest proposed high-quality public realm and open green space.

Residents will have access to a range of on-site amenities, such as shared lounges, flexible workspaces, a cycle hub, and health and wellbeing facilities, and services including a 24-hour hotel-style concierge and round-the-clock professional management.

BTR - known as multifamily in the US - is one of the fastest growing areas of the UK housing market and is expected to reach £546bn in size according to Savills.

With Apache Capital, Moda has a £2.5bn development pipeline of over 7,500 BTR apartments in nine cities across England and Scotland.

John Dunkerley, co-founder and CEO at Apache Capital, added: “With equity commitments from Harrison Street and NFU Mutual our mulitfamily housing platform remains the UK’s largest privately funded.

“We are committed to delivering and delighted to have partnered with LaSalle on a second Moda Living scheme.

“These developments are long-term investments that sit perfectly within our build-to-core strategy. We expect lenders to increase their exposure to BTR as a demographically and structurally supported asset class with defensive, countercyclical qualities.”