Real estate funding specialist, ASK Partners – a UKREiiF attendee – has provided a £21.65 senior loan facility to UK-based investment and development firm, BYM Capital.
BYM Capital, a commercial and residential investor and developer, acquired the shopping centre, known as ‘The Spires’ in July 2021. ASK’s facility is being used to refinance a short-term bridge taken out to fund the acquisition.
With Waitrose as the anchor tenant, the centre is an important part of the local retail provision and holds a prominent position in Barnet, just off the high street. It consists of 114,052 sq ft of retail space across 32 retail units, a food store and a gym. In addition, there is a 436-space multi-storey carpark.
The Spires has a vast catchment area within a well-connected area of North London. Just ten minutes’ walk from High Barnet station, it sees significant footfall and is widely considered the highest quality retail environment within Barnet town centre. It has a very high current occupancy rate of 94% with other tenants including H&M, WH Smith, Waterstones and JD Sports.
Lucinda Lee-Bapty, Chief Operating Officer at BYM Capital, said: “This asset’s value is strongly underpinned by long-term leases to well-known national tenants, in particular Waitrose. We were delighted to work with ASK as a valued funding partner and appreciate their understanding of the market and our asset management strategy.”
Elliot Blatt, Investment Manager at ASK said, “We were delighted to provide financing to BYM Capital on this site. Retail has clearly been significantly impacted by the pandemic, but shopping centres such as this with anchor tenants on long leases are still benefiting from high occupancy and footfall. I believe customers are still looking for a retail experience, possibly even more so since the national lockdowns and I am sure BYM Capital will be successful in their approach.”
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