Amro Partners and Falco Capital have financed their joint student housing project in Alicante with a €17.5m 3-year development loan from Fiera Capital’s European Real Estate Debt platform. The global asset management firm is making its debut into the Iberian market via the Article 8-compliant Fiera European Real Estate Debt Fund.
Amro Estudiantes Alicante is the first PBSA building in Spain to adopt a Passivhaus design discipline, with investment in fabric efficiency, renewable energy technology and solar control in line with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 degree Celsius carbon emissions reduction pathway. Targeting an energy use intensity of just c.100kWh/m2.yr, that includes PH levels of cooling demand and heating demand of less than <15 kWh/m2.yr, the building achieves the maximum score in the SFDR Article 8 under the development section.
Seeking their first investment in the Spanish lending market, Fiera was drawn to Amro’s strong track record for delivering market leading green PBSA assets, and the project’s specific ESG credentials including BREEAM ‘Outstanding’, EPC A++, Fitwel 3* and WiredScore ‘Platinum’.
The current ratio of students to dedicated beds in Alicante stands at around 5:1, with student numbers continuing to rise year on year. Located a 3-minute walk from Universidad de Alicante’s main campus, the €30m GDV project will deliver c.285 student beds in San Vicente del Raspeig, providing twodios, doubles and studios alongside dedicated study spaces and shared facilities including a swimming pool, canteen, terraces, a gym and 92 on-site parking spaces. The project has achieved full planning permission, with work having commenced on site in Q4 2023 and set to complete in Q3 2025.
Fiera’s European Debt platform is part of its global real estate credit product offering, where a further USD2bn assets are under management in North America and Asia.
Source: press release sent 14 March 2024