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Henderson Park, the pan-European private equity real estate firm, and Hines, the international real estate firm, announce that they have sold through a forward funding agreement the 743-bed purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) currently under construction in 22@Barcelona, the city’s innovation district. The project has been sold to Commerz Real Capital Management Company acting on behalf of the Commerz Real Institutional Smart Living Europe Fund.
Henderson Park and Hines acquired the project in August 2018 and have subsequently progressed the development which is on target to be operational in time for the 2022/23 academic year. Once complete the accommodation will comprise 20,000 square metres above ground, and 6,079 square metres below, with capacity for 743 students. The project will be managed by Hines’ property management team, via its aparto brand.
The 8-storey student accommodation building has been designed by architects Batlle i Roig, with 2,500 square metres of exterior gardens, 1,800 square metres of amenity space and 900 square metres of roof terrace with the aim to achieve LEED Gold and WELL Platinum certification. Henderson Park and Hines will continue to develop the building until completion.
The disposal follows the €31 million forward sale in November of a second project being developed by Henderson Park and Hines on the adjacent site. This transaction occurred after Henderson Park and Hines had fully let the project to the Toulouse Business School for 15 years as a purpose built 8,700 square metre educational facility, which is due to be delivered in the middle of next year. The new facility will serve as a campus for Toulouse Business School with capacity for 1,000 students.
The area benefits from a prominent position in Barcelona’s 22@ district and is just 15 minutes’ walk from nearby university campuses. 22@Barcelona is one of the key innovation districts in Europe and is noted for its excellent connectivity to the rest of the city, as well as being home to a host of successful regeneration projects.
Barcelona is a top 10 European student city and is home to eight universities, of which, four are public and four are private. Student accommodation in Barcelona is typically undersupplied with an estimated 8,700 operational PBSA beds and 165,000 students on an average year. The resulting provision rate of 5%, which equates to 19 students per available PBSA bed, signifies the need for greater provision of PBSA in Barcelona.
Source : Joint release