BLEND, the specialist development finance lender, has today announced that it has provided a £3.4m senior debt facility to deliver a newbuild standalone development of apartments in Paignton, a seaside town in 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 has historically been a much sought-after holiday destination often referred to as the English Riviera. The development is ideally situated in an elevated position overlooking Paignton Seafront and Harbour. In recent years the surrounding area has benefitted and continues to do so from both private and public investment with significant regeneration taking place. The Torbay Place Leadership Board is promoting the area as “the place to work, live, visit and invest in”.
Over the past few months, BLEND has funded a variety of residential development schemes sitting at both ends of the scale. From high-end schemes such as the conversion of a Grade II Listed property into 3 residential units in Saffron Walden, to more affordable schemes such as the development of a former care home into 21 residential units in Bexhill on Sea.
David Alcock MRICS, MD at BLEND, commented:
“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, commented:
“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”.
