Grainger unveil plans for 400 apartment built-to-rent scheme in Cardiff city centre

Plans for a 400 build-to-rent apartment scheme, which will also see a string of railway arches revived in the centre of Cardiff, have been revealed.

Newcastle-based and the UK’s largest listed residential landlord, Grainger, has acquired a development site at John Street in a £6.25m deal, which also includes the long leasehold interest in five railway arches.

Following the acquisition, Grainger is now progressing plans to obtain planning consent for a build-to-rent led scheme for 400 apartments with resident amenities, whilst transforming five railway arches to provide commercial and publicly accessible open space. The arches, with are currently not occupied, each extend to around 1,000 sq ft.

In a separate deal Grainger has also acquired a multi-storey car park at the nearby Capital Quarter scheme, which is adjacent to Grainger’s Copper Works residential scheme.

Both the land site and car park have been acquired from Cardiff-based and family-owned developer JR Smart, which developed the Capital Quarter scheme and a new 107,000 sq ft office building at John Street, which is due to be completed next year. The Cardiff office of property advisory firm Knight Frank acted for JR Smart on its two disposal deals with Grainger.

The multi-storey car park with 296 spaces was acquired as a going concern and will enable Grainger to lease car parking spaces to residents of the Copper Works, but also for any potential development on the John Street site.

With 11,069 operational rental homes across the UK, and a further 4,730 homes in its £1.4bn pipeline, Grainger said its Cardiff acquisitions provide an opportunity to further strengthen its presence in the city.

In January it unveiled its built-to-rent Copper Works scheme at Capital Quarter with its 307 apartments.

Helen Gordon, chief executive of Grainger, said:“We are pleased to further invest in Cardiff, which is a key investment target for Grainger.