Major Southampton scheme bought in prominent portfolio deal

A prominent 809-bedroom scheme in Southampton – which is spread across six buildings – has been bought as part of a wider multimillion-pound student accommodation portfolio deal. The acquisition was backed by a £36m loan from OakNorth Bank.Clearbell has bought seven such sites, six of which are in Aberdeen.These comprise a total of 1,050 bedrooms which are situated in close proximity to both the University of Aberdeen and Robert Gordon University.The Southampton site – Lucia Foster Welch – is situated next to the city’s popular Ocean Village. Recently fully refurbished by Clearbell, it also sits near Solent University and the University of Southampton’s main campus.Every scheme will be managed by Iceni Property Asset Management, which was established in 2018 by founding director and chief executive Matthew McAdden.”The assets in Aberdeen and Southampton are in excellent locations for students attending the city’s four main universities, and we fully expect demand for them to be high,” said McAdden.”With student numbers increasing across the board, the team will be playing an important role in managing highly sought-after PBSAs in two of the UK’s popular student destinations.”We have extensive experience in managing student accommodation in the university sector, and this same level of expertise was reflected by the team at OakNorth in regard to their lending approach.”Deepesh Thakrar, senior director of debt finance at OakNorth Bank, added: “Clearbell is a strong business with ambitious plans for the future. Its funding requirements gave us another opportunity to once again work with a high-quality institutional investor, as well as a very experienced student operator in Iceni Property.”The student accommodation sector was heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, we’re now seeing large university towns and cities bouncing back strongly, following evidenced uptake for the coming student year, as the market returns to normal with in-person lectures and seminars.”We look forward to working closely with Matthew and his team on future projects moving forward.”