June 1, 2018
The first deal has been completed on the last remaining undeveloped site in the centre of Milton Keynes owned by Palmer Capital.
The site originally known as CBX3 Phase 2 and re-christened Aubrey Place fronts on to Avebury Boulevard adjacent to The Hub leisure district. The site comprises just over 2 acres and will be developed to provide a hotel, residential and retail.
The first sale is of approximately 0.3 acres to Vastint Hospitality BV at £3.28m. Vastint will construct a 256 bedroom hotel to be occupied by Marriott’s Moxy hotel operation.
The disposal is the result of many years of work to restart the development on the stalled site. This included the purchase of the freehold from HCA and regularising numerous estate management matters with adjacent land owners and the Combined Heat and Power Plant which serves the entire island site. The site had laid undeveloped for over 10 years following the earlier development of The Hub. It has therefore become an unusual eyesore for residents of Milton Keynes.
Palmer Capital are now working on the submission of a planning application for the remainder / majority of the site which will provide a circa 300 unit BTR residential led mixed use scheme plus a new multi storey car park.
Steven Wright, director at Palmer Capital commented: “We are delighted to successfully conclude the first stages of our placemaking in central Milton Keynes, which will result in an exciting new hotel brand for the city being delivered by a high quality operator. The project has had a number of challenges but all stakeholders involved have worked well together in bringing the project forward – ultimately to the benefit of Milton Keynes”.
Lambert Smith Hampton acted on behalf of the freehold vendors Palmer Capital and Gallus Land of Cardiff acted on behalf of Vastint.