£215m Fountainbridge plan for 525 rented homes

A joint venture between developer Moda Living and investment manager Apache Capital has bought a site in Fountainbridge on the west side of Edinburgh city centre to develop 525 homes for rent and manage 46 existing private rented homes.

Property firm Grosvenor Britain & Ireland sold the residential element of its major Edinburgh city centre land holding for £215 million in Moda Living called “one of the largest housing deals in Scotland since the financial crisis.”

Moda Living said Edinburgh’s population is due to grow up to 30% by 2035 and housing is already in short supply.

The site, which Grosvenor bought in 2006, already comprises 250 completed homes, affordable housing for the elderly, serviced apartments and two student residences providing accommodation for more than 600.

Moda Living said Grosvenor was granted planning permission for the next phase of homes in January last year, but decided to sell the site.

The scheme will be the second by Moda and Apache in Scotland after they purchased the former Strathclyde Police headquarters in Glasgow in October last year.

The joint venture also owns rented housing schemes in Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham and said it has a roughly £1.1 billion portfolio of sites in city centres across the UK.

Kevin Stewart, minister for local government and housing, said: “This government has made clear its commitment to boosting housing supply across all tenures and we recognise the significant contribution that can be made by a high-quality purpose-built private rented sector.”