The North West Evergreen Fund, “Evergreen”, has provided Muse Developments with a £4.8 million development loan to part fund its 70,000 sq ft first phase of the City Place scheme in Chester – a scheme that will deliver thousands of new jobs to the local area. The new loan was structured by CBRE’s Investment Advisory team.
Muse has also secured a further £1.4 million grant funding from the European Regional Development Fund for the development.
City Place is a 3.5 acre development site, which will form a key part of Chester’s new Central Business Quarter.
By 2028, it is planned that Chester’s Central Business Quarter, as part of the wider One City Plan, will offer a total of 440,000 square feet of state-of-the art office space and public realm creating around 3,500 jobs.
Muse Developments was granted planning permission for the first phase of City Place in March 2013, which will ultimately provide a six storey 70,000 sq ft BREEAM ‘Excellent’ office building on the land adjacent to Chester railway station. The development will be complemented by the public realm, which will link it to the station and Shropshire Union Canal.
The North West Evergreen Fund, which is made up of 16 local authority limited partners was established to provide funding to support real estate projects which are critical to the region’s economy, generating jobs and growth. It is capitalised through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and other public money allocated under the Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas (or “JESSICA”) initiative, which is managed by the European Investment Bank in the North West on behalf of the Homes and Communities Agency.
The Evergreen model provides loan funding to be invested in projects which will generate a financial return and will then be recycled back into the fund to help support further projects. The fund is advised by CBRE Indirect Investment Services Limited, the FCA regulated arm of CBRE.