Hampshire Trust Bank (HTB) has provided a £7.4m loan to an experienced developer of modern care home and assisted living facilities for a significant development in Shipley, North Yorkshire.
The funding will facilitate the construction of 56 apartments for over-55s at a site known as Canal Works.
The complex transaction involved the borrower having built a pre-let care home, sold to a fund, and obtained planning consent for the Canal Works scheme.
HTB provided the senior facility of £7.45m, with the borrower contributing the site and a modest sum of cash as equity. A trusted mezzanine provider delivered a mezzanine slice.
The deal, completed in February, allowed the borrower’s contractor to remain on site and seamlessly transition from care home construction to the assisted living scheme, saving site set-up and preliminary costs. The total Gross Development Value of the project is £11,445,000, with completion expected in mid-2024.
Martin Hutson, managing director of Torsion Care, said: “We are delighted to have closed our second development facility with HTB.
“The team there have a great understanding of the retirement living space, are supportive and flexible to achieve the funding stream required. My thanks to the HTB team for their help to close out the finance on this development.”
Harry Bhogal, lending manager of development finance at HTB, added: “Later living is an interesting sub-sector of the market. The UK has an aging population and yet this sector of the housing market is currently under-supplied and dominated by one firm. I worked closely with the client and our professional team to understand the supply and demand dynamics, the level of specification required in the later living sector and also the costs.”
Neil Leitch (pictured), commercial director for development finance at HTB, concluded: “We look forward to building on our existing relationship with Torsion Care and I am excited to see this development come to fruition. As HTB continues on our growth journey, we plan to expand further into later living and other connected sectors, in addition to funding core residential and commercial development.
“We will take the time to understand our borrower’s requirements with dedicated lending directors and portfolio managers appointed on each case to provide the level of service for which HTB are becoming known.”
