Fortwell funds Leeds retirement village

Fortwell Capital has put forward a £52.1m loan for a 128-home retirement village near Leeds. The loan was taken out by a joint venture between retirement village operator Audley Group and Schroders Capital’s UK Retirement Living Fund, advised by Octopus Real Estate. Scarcroft Park, a 128-unit retirement village in the affluent area of Scarcroft, six miles north-east of Leeds, will be operated by Audley Group. It will comprise 22 cottages and 106 two-bedroom apartments and is the fourth project undertaken by the jv, Audley and Schroders first teamed up in 2019 and have since developed 500 retirement homes with a total value of £400m. The Scarcroft Park site was purchased, with full planning consent, by the jv in Q2 2021, with construction set to commence this month. The loan marks the first foray into retirement homes by Fortwell, which has provided around £400m of funding to care home developers and operators since 2014. Nick White, associate director at Fortwell Capital, said: “We are excited to expand our focus within the senior living sector to also include retirement villages, following a number of years when care home development in the UK was at the heart of Fortwell’s lending strategy. We firmly believe these types of high quality retirement village schemes are essential in the UK and will continue to require significant funding from alternative lenders to meet the required level of development.” The development will bring Audley’s stable of properties to 14 completed and open villages, with a further five under construction.   To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews