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| 127 Kensington High Street, in the royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. |
LONDON, ENGLAND, March 11, 2019 – HFF Real Estate Limited (HFF) announces the £108 million (U.S $142,743,816) bilateral acquisition and refurbishment financing of 127 Kensington High Street, a marquee 127,000-square-foot, mixed-use project in the royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London.
The HFF team worked on behalf of AshbyCapital. The financing was provided by a global investment bank.
Currently a neglected 1970s monolithic brutalist structure, 127 Kensington High Street will be fully transformed into one of the premiere office and retail assets in the area.
Included in the acquisition is the adjacent retail arcade, which serves as the entrance to the High Street Kensington underground station. The project is ideally situated between Holland Park and Kensington Gardens and proximate to Equinox, Whole Foods Market and other key local amenities.
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| Claudio Sgobba |
Included in the acquisition is the adjacent retail arcade, which serves as the entrance to the High Street Kensington underground station. The project is ideally situated between Holland Park and Kensington Gardens and proximate to Equinox, Whole Foods Market and other key local amenities.
The HFF debt placement team representing the borrower was led by managing director Claudio Sgobba and director Andrew Hornblower.
“It is always a gratifying result to bring together a new borrower-lender relationship,” Sgobba said.
“We are confident that AshbyCapital and the lender are an outstanding fit and will have a longstanding go-forward partnership. It was a pleasure working alongside Charles Lawrence, AshbyCapital’s investment director, to close an attractively priced and flexibly structured facility that is ideally suited for their business plan.”
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| Andrew Hornblower |
“There is excellent synergy between all parties involved, and we are very pleased with the outcome,” Hornblower added. “It was a competitive lender selection process with flexibility, pricing and surety of execution, all playing a role in the ultimate decision.
"We very much look forward to watching AshbyCapital lengthen their already impressive London track record of creating special, generational assets.”
"We very much look forward to watching AshbyCapital lengthen their already impressive London track record of creating special, generational assets.”
“Prime freehold development opportunities are increasingly rare in central London and we are delighted at the prospect of delivering best-in-class office and retail space to Kensington,” Lawrence said. “This financing validates our enthusiasm for this unique project and frees up further capital for us to deploy as we look onwards to the next opportunities.”
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| Charles Lawrence |
About AshbyCapital
Founded by Peter Ferrari in 2013, AshbyCapital is a property investment advisory business with a £1bn+ portfolio. The company invests across a range of risk-return strategies across the U.K., with a particular expertise in Central London.
About HFF
HFF and its affiliates operate out of 26 offices and are a leading provider of commercial real estate and capital markets services to the global commercial real estate industry.
HFF, together with its affiliates, offers clients a fully integrated capital markets platform, including debt placement, investment advisory, equity placement, funds marketing, M&A and corporate advisory, loan sales and loan servicing.
HFF, HFF Real Estate Limited, HFF Securities L.P. and HFF Securities Limited are owned by HFF, Inc. (NYSE: HF). For more information, please visit hfflp.com or follow HFF on Twitter @HFF.
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| Peter Ferrari |
HFF, HFF Real Estate Limited, HFF Securities L.P. and HFF Securities Limited are owned by HFF, Inc. (NYSE: HF). For more information, please visit hfflp.com or follow HFF on Twitter @HFF.
CONTACTS:
CLAUDIO SGOBBA
HFF Managing Director
44-020 7509 6700
ANDREW HORNBLOWER
HFF Director
44-020 7509 6700
KIMBERLY STEELE
HFF Digital Content/Public Relations Specialist
+1 (713) 852-3420
