A man we’ll call “Jimmy the Greek” has 14 million reasons to be an Arsenal fan. Ten years ago, the club bought Jimmy a few rundown workshops near Finsbury Park Tube station.
The gift was in recompense for shifting him from land on which the Emirates Stadium was to be built. Two years ago, Alan Artus, of developer Generation, and US fund manager Carlyle paid Jimmy £14 million for his site. A 400-bed student hostel called Pure Highbury has just opened.
Carlyle this week announced a £300 million joint venture with Generation to build two more Pure blocks, one in Islington, another in Hammersmith. These will take the number of student rooms to 1800.
Robert Hodges of Carlyle says his private-equity group, which manages $100 billion (£63 billion) of assets, would like to build more. “If we could double the present number of beds, I’d be very happy,” he adds.
Artus says rooms that cost students £225-£250 a week generate an 8% net yield on the investment after maintenance and running costs of £2000 per year per room are deducted.
Pure Highbury cost £45 million to develop. The finished schemes will be transferred into Carlyle’s €5 billion (£3.9 billion) European real estate fund, which is backed by global pension funds.
Carlyle will submit a planning application for one of the biggest residential development in central London “in a few weeks”, says Robert Hodges. The site, occupied by two office blocks, straddles the track on the south bank of the Thames below Blackfriars station. The one-million-square-foot scheme, drawn up by PLP Architects, will include about 500 flats in towers up to 500 feet high.
