Montreaux acquires Greenwich site for £450m mixed-use scheme

Montreaux has acquired a 9.75-acre development site for a residential-led mixed-use scheme valued at £450m. The developer has acquired the freehold to the unconsented site at Stone Foundries on Woolwich Road in Charlton, SE7, for £45m. The seller, family-owned Langham Estates, instructed Savills to sell the site last year, and agents brought the development opportunity to market in June 2018. Montreaux will develop a scheme of around 1,000 homes with a combination of affordable homes, private market sales and a large chunk of build-to-rent, targeting both the first-time buyer market and young professionals seeking rental homes with good commuter links to the city. Architectural firm Allford Hall Monaghan Morris has drawn up an indicative proposal for the site, with the potential for 1,000 homes across 16 blocks of up to 12 storeys, with two terraces of townhouses. The initial plans propose 741,982 sq ft of residential and 156,731 sq ft of commercial space. The site currently comprises light industrial and office buildings, generating £566,589 in rent per annum. It has been earmarked for mixed-use development as part of the Charlton Riverside Opportunity Area. Greenwich Council has created a supplementary planning document outlining a vision to deliver 5,000-7,000 homes and an additional 4,400 jobs for the region. It is located 1km from Charlton station, providing direct links to central London stations, with Crossrail planned to open in Woolwich in December 2019. Montreaux managing director Damian Stalley said: “The scale of the site was what really attracted us to Charlton. There are a lot of other sites in the region, and we see this as an up-and-coming place with a lot of potential. “Our development will be an intrinsic part of the riverside regeneration. We look forward to bringing the site forward and delivering it.” The site sits between Rockwell Residential’s 771-home development and Hyde Housing’s sites close to the Thames Barrier, which are expected to deliver 1,350 homes. Montreaux intends to submit a planning application by the end of Q1 2020, with a goal to be on site by the second half of 2021 and a construction timeline of five years. The development would bring Montreaux’s portfolio to 9,000 homes in planning and under construction. It follows the recent acquisition of the B&Q site in Cricklewood for 1,000 homes, revealed by EG in March. Montreaux has ramped up its large-scale regeneration plans in the capital. It spent £200m on land acquisitions in 2018 and £150m so far in 2019. Wielding £500m of UK and international institutional finance, it expects that further acquisitions will bring its pipeline to 15,000 by the end of the year. Montreaux is the latest in a raft of investors drawn to the borough of Greenwich, where £8bn is being spent by developer Knight Dragon to turn 190 acres of derelict industrial land on the peninsula into a new London district. Earlier this month, Criterion Capital bought Morgan Stanley’s Maritime View residential development on the western side of the Peninsula. The London developer is investing £250m to deliver up to 1,000 compact homes at discount market rent, alongside public realm and a new pier for the Thames Clipper. To send feedback, e-mail emma.rosser@egi.co.uk or tweet @EmmaARosser or @estatesgazette