Blend, the specialist development finance lender, has announced that it has provided a £3.4m senior debt facility to support a newbuild standalone development of apartments in Paignton, Devon.
The 24-month, 65% LTGDV senior debt facility will be used to acquire the 0.59-acre site and develop 14 apartments for sale on the open market in Keysfield Road, a short walk from Paignton Harbour.
The Torbay area, known as the English Riviera, is a popular holiday destination and has recently seen significant regeneration due to both private and public investment. The Torbay Place Leadership Board promotes the area as “the place to work, live, visit and invest in.”
Over the past few months, Blend has funded various residential development schemes, from high-end conversions of Grade II Listed properties to more affordable developments like transforming a former care home into 21 residential units.
David Alcock MRICS, managing director at Blend, said: “We are delighted to have completed this deal.
“From the point of our first site meeting, it was clear that the developer, with a longstanding track record in the area, knew their target market and that they had the contracts in place to deliver what should be a truly stunning development.
“We have heard over and over again how in the UK 300,000 new homes are needed per year, but we know that these housebuilding targets keep being missed by successive governments.
“At Blend, funding SME developers and helping them build the homes the country needs is something we feel very passionate about.
“We know the challenges that developers face in securing funding, especially at a time when many banks and other lenders have crept back their lending appetite. At Blend, we’ve built a reputation for being a through-the-cycle lender, a lender who understands the development process and the challenges that come with it and why relationship lending matters so much.”
Dominic Williams, regional director at ASC Finance for Business, added: “This was my first case with Blend but after discussing the proposition in some depth with David I introduced Blend to my client and the service they received could not have been better.
“David personally went to undertake a site review and introduce himself to my client face to face. David impressed our client with his thorough and rapid understanding of the development and this started a very fruitful relationship.
“It’s rare with lenders these days that you still receive that personal touch and a genuine interest in the project rather than just looking at numbers on a spreadsheet and I felt that both Blend and David were personally invested in seeing the project completed successfully and that showed in the speed and accuracy of their decision-making process.
“Having used Blend for the first time I can safely say they are an excellent lender, fully supportive of developers, and I will be looking to use them again in the very near future.”
