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OakNorth lends £21m for Wandsworth development

Tom Belger | 09:55 Tuesday 5th September 2017

OakNorth has completed a debt finance deal of £21m to property development company Strawberry Star, with RM Secured Direct Lending providing a further £49m of debt.

The finance will be used to develop 77 residential units (circa 56,000 sq ft), 24,000 sq ft of flexible work space and 2,000 sq ft café/ restaurant accommodation at Buckhold Road in Wandsworth, with a GDV of over £46m.

The sales will be jointly managed by Strawberry Star Lettings and Sales and JLL.

The property has full planning consent so construction is expected to begin in September for a period of 24 months, with completion expected in Q3 2019.

[caption id="attachment_2543" align="alignnone" width="400"]OakNorth Strawberry Star Strawberry Star CGI[/caption]

Located near to Wandsworth Town train station, the site provides quick access into Waterloo and Victoria via Clapham Junction.

According to Zoopla, the average price paid for flats in SW18 over the last 12 months stood at £537,584.

Commenting on the deal, Santhosh Gowda, founder and chairman of Strawberry Star, said: “Wandsworth is one of London's most popular areas and is in desperate need of new homes – the borough requires 18,000 new homes a year until 2025 to keep up with demand – so we're delighted to have OakNorth and RM Secured Debt Lending's support, and look forward to development getting underway.”

Santhosh established Strawberry Star 10 years ago, and has since overseen investment in over 700 luxury apartments across London, while managing director, Nick Stonley, who joined the company in 2015, has over 35 years' experience in residential property development.

In a joint statement, Ben Barbanel, head of debt finance, and Damien Hughes, property finance director at OakNorth, added: “Since our launch in September 2015, we have been focused on one thing; solving the problem of scaling non-standard lending in the UK, backing quality management teams in the process.

“Santosh and Nick are a perfect example of this. Together, they have over 65 years' experience leading successful mixed-use and purely residential projects, both here in the UK and abroad.

“Their track record speaks for itself and we're delighted to have been selected as their debt finance provider for this flagship development.”

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