Pollen Street and Downing unite to tackle student housing supply
Alternative investment manager Pollen Street Capital (PSC) and lender Downing have unveiled one of their first property investments under a new partnership.
The companies have revealed a £24.3 million co-funded deal to construct two purpose-built student apartment blocks in Canterbury, which will provide accommodation and facilities for around 400 students.
Parik Chandra, partner and head of property finance at Downing LLP, said the investment will help tackle the undersupply of student housing.
“The market for student accommodation is experiencing some challenges due to Covid and Brexit may also impact EU students studying in the UK,” Chandra said.
“Nevertheless, the underlying dynamics of the UK student market remain strong.
“The undersupply of purpose-built student accommodation in cities across the UK is an ongoing issue which we aim to play our part in tackling by providing debt funding for projects of this kind.”
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PSC, which also manages the Honeycomb investment trust, has acquired around £30m of Downing’s existing loanbook and is providing a funding line for future developments.
Downing’s property finance division is a sister brand to crowd bonds platform Downing Crowd.
It has £470m of property assets under management and committed facilities of more than £150m to developers.
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