Atelier finances apartment scheme opposite Hugh Grant’s ‘Notting Hill’ pad
A parade of shops which features in the movie ‘Notting Hill’ is being transformed into a luxury apartment scheme with a GDV in excess of £30m after the specialist lender Atelier agreed to finance the mixed-use redevelopment.
The four-storey, 24,511 sq ft Victorian terrace at 305-317 Westbourne Park Road, West London, stands directly opposite the famous blue door to Hugh Grant’s flat in the hit 1999 film.
When completed later this year, the new scheme will include a row of boutique shops arranged over the lower ground and ground floors, plus seven luxury apartments (three two-beds and four three-beds) all arranged on the two floors above. The completed apartments will range in size from 95-120sqm and prices will start at £1.95m.
Nu-Line Builders Merchants traded at the address until last year, and the site had lain empty until a leading London developer teamed up with Atelier to purchase the seven freeholds.
The intricate finance deal was brokered by Tony Tadros, director of Stonehouse Capital (SHC), and is Atelier’s biggest loan to date. Despite the deal’s complexity, Atelier conducted intensive financial and legal due diligence with speed and precision – reaching agreement within just three weeks of the developer’s initial enquiry.
Atelier specialises in offering fixed interest rate deals to SME developers, often for regeneration projects on brownfield sites. The fast-growing lender is on track to have £275m of assets under management by April 2023, and is currently expanding its footprint in Prime London.
Enabling work is now underway at the Notting Hill scheme, and construction is due to be completed in autumn.
Features in the development will include south-facing balconies, roof terraces and cinema rooms in two of the apartments – not to mention a view of the iconic blue door across the street.
Gross Internal Area for the retail units will be 11,687 sq ft, and Net Internal Area for the apartments will be 8,051 sq ft. The area is well-served by public transport links including Notting Hill, Westbourne Park and Ladbroke Grove tube stations, with the Portobello Road Market nearby.
The release of the Hugh Grant blockbuster triggered a buying frenzy in W11 at the time, and now, more than twenty years on, estate agents still talk about a “Notting Hill effect”. Savills recently released data showing that W11 remains one of London’s five most desirable – and expensive – postcodes.
Atelier’s chief origination officer, Martin Gilsenan, commented: “More than two decades after Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts sparked the original Notting Hill effect, this remains one of the capital’s most in-demand areas.
“In recent months we’ve seen a surge in demand for new apartments in Prime London, and this development of seven stylish homes and a new parade of shops will bring fresh life, and new residents, to the W11 community.
“It’s exactly the sort of thoughtfully-designed redevelopment project we like to finance at Atelier, and will create a series of comfortable homes and vibrant businesses at the epicentre of the Notting Hill phenomenon.
“This was a complex deal, with the plans creating an additional freehold and transforming both commercial and residential properties at once; but Atelier prides itself on its ability to move quickly and decisively when we see a project with such strong potential.
“Our borrowers enjoy direct access to lending decision-makers during the application process, and it’s a testament to the speed, efficiency and thoroughness of our due diligence teams that we were able to agree finance within three weeks of receiving the enquiry.”
Tony Tadros, director of Stonehouse Capital (SHC) commented: “We are delighted to have arranged the finance for this transaction with Atelier, who backed the developer to complete a complex transaction within three weeks.”