Former Filtronic site acquisition in key property deals backed by Yorkshire Bank

21/01/08

A series of multi-million pound deals backing new commercial property schemes in Yorkshire have been completed by Yorkshire Bank’s Leeds Financial Solutions Centre (FSC).

A £5.18m facility for GMI Waterside Shipley Ltd to acquire the former Filtronic headquarters in Shipley is among the transactions by the bank’s Structured Property Finance Team.

The funding allows GMI Waterside Shipley, a subsidiary of Leeds-based GMI Holdings, to acquire the late 1990s-built, 54,300 sq ft offices and 37,500 sq ft of ancillary warehousing next to Salts Mill. GMI Waterside Shipley Ltd will redevelop and refurbish the property where 19,000 sq ft of offices is leased to Nokia Siemens Networks (UK) Ltd.

Yorkshire Bank has also agreed a £517m, two-year facility to Leeds-based office, healthcare and residential developer, Oakapple Group, for the acquisition and development of  seven offices units totaling 34,000 sq ft on the Aire Valley Bypass close to Keighley town centre. The development starts on site in February and completes this autumn.

The Structured Property Finance Team has also provided Wakefield-based Aspasia Group with £12.350m to acquire a Brownfield site and develop a mixed-use office and apartments scheme in North Park Road, Bradford.

The two-phase development will see the former Woolston Warehouse turned into 106 apartments while National House will be redeveloped into 54 apartments and offices.

Aspasia Group is to start on site in March for an 18-month development phase for the scheme which is already 75 per cent let.
Head of the Structured Property Finance Team, senior partner Sylvia Bowden, says: “We still face strong demand for funding for exciting commercial property and residential schemes in spite of market volatility and gloomy forecasts, and we have the liquidity to support them.

“We are pleased to be backing Yorkshire-based property developers for this series of important regeneration schemes which are among a number of significant transactions nationwide.”

Yorkshire Bank’s Leeds FSC, which has more than 106 corporate, commercial and private banking specialists, is among seven created throughout Yorkshire and Humber to spearhead a new integrated, one-stop-shop approach to business and personal banking by providing businesses fast access to multi- discipline teams of bankers.