UandI joint venture

On 18 January 2017, the London-based property regeneration company U+I announced it was forming a joint venture with the American developer Colony NorthStar Inc. The joint venture will spend €300m on office refurbishment jobs in London, Manchester and Dublin.

According to U+I, the joint venture, in which each partner will own 50%, will transform “underperforming office buildings through improved planning, development, refurbishment and asset management.”

U+I has made an initial capital contribution of €14 million and seeded the joint venture with two assets: The Record Store, at The Old Vinyl Factory in London and Donnybrook House in Dublin.

The Record Store is being repositioned to create 60,000 sq. ft. of creative office space as part of U+I’s wider transformation of the 17-acre site.

Donnybrook House is a 72,000 sq. ft. vacant building in a prominent location in central Dublin which U+I will refurbish to meet the demands of creative and tech focussed businesses.

Most recently Ballymoss House, a 67,000 sq. ft. third generation office building, has been acquired in Dublin for €13.5 million. The property will be immediately refurbished.

Matthew Weiner, Chief Executive of U+I, said:

“The specialist platform will target opportunities to develop high quality office space where there are limited options for new build.

“There is currently a shortage of offices across U+I’s core locations which provide the right space or environment to satisfy the needs of today’s modern enterprises.

“Office refurbishment is one of U+I’s core skills, this platform will allow us to deliver workplaces tailored for the 21st century and create value through our expertise in planning, development, refurbishment and asset management.”

--U and I