Topland and Urban Exposure acquire £30m mansion site on Wentworth Estate
Topland Group and Urban Exposure have acquired a prime 3.4 acre site, known as Dawn Hill, on the Wentworth Estate in Surrey, adjacent to the world-famous golf course.
Full planning consent has been granted for a new 25,000 sqft mansion on the site, with 11 bedrooms, 3 reception rooms, gym, swimming pool, spa, cinema room, lift, garaging for four cars and staff accommodation. The joint venture plans to develop the site and bring the house to market in some 24 months at a predicted gross development value (GDV) in excess of £30m.
The site is considered to be one of the finest on the Wentworth Estate, benefiting from elevated views overlooking a south-facing garden with the River Bourne along the rear boundary. Since the site is sloped, the basement level opens out to the garden allowing in ample natural light.
Tom Betts, director of Topland said: “This acquisition is an exciting addition to Topland’s already significant interests in the residential space. It also highlights Topland’s appetite to transact across the different mediums – direct investment, lending and in this case well-structured joint ventures”.
Randeesh Sandhu, managing director of Urban Exposure added: “We are excited to be developing this prestigious site with Topland which adds to our portfolio of Super-Prime developments. We have the ability to fund or acquire a wide range of projects from Super Prime houses to multi-unit projects – and in all aspects of the capital stack from senior and stretched senior debt, mezzanine finance, and as in this case, direct acquisition in conjunction with our JV partner.”
Topland Group is one of the largest privately-owned investment groups in the UK, with c.£4 billion of assets. Its UK real estate portfolio includes City of London offices, hotels, high street retail units and distribution warehouses. The group continues to invest in UK and Europe and to diversify its interests. Topland’s established lending programme targets reputable property developers, funding transactions between £5m and £100m in Central London and the surrounding area.
Urban Exposure – which recently originated, arranged and co-funded with Topland Group and LaSalle Investment Management a £130m mixed-use scheme in Greenwich developed by HadleyMace – is a property finance and investment company with extensive experience of all aspects of property investment, development, finance and asset management. The company currently focuses on providing senior debt, stretch senior and mezzanine finance to developers primarily in Prime Central London and the South East and equity investment in schemes such as the Wentworth acquisition. Projects range from super-prime houses and apartments to new build mixed-use developments.
Urban Exposure will also asset manager the project; a development manager will be bought on board in the coming weeks.