Aprirose to enter serviced apartment sector with £40m Locke aparthotel

Aprirose has acquired a site on Dalson's Kingsland High Street in London for the development of a £40m Locke aparthotel.

The real estate investment company has secured planning permission to create a purpose-built 121-room scheme at a former Tesco Express site, its first foray into the serviced apartment sector.

SACO Property Group has been appointed development manager to oversee the build, which is expected to complete in April 2020, and to operate the scheme under a management agreement as a Locke aparthotel.

SACO's design-led Locke brand combines aspects of a boutique hotel with serviced apartments. Kingsland Locke will feature 121 studio and one-bed units over five floors, a restaurant, cocktail bar and a co-working space for 152 guests, as well as a fully equipped gym.

SACO announced earlier this year that it would be expanding to add 970 units to its Locke brand shortly after its sale to investment company Brookfield Asset Management for £430m.

Additional sites have been acquired in Cambridge, Dublin, Paris and Berlin and are due to open between 2018 and 2020. The Locke brand is already located in London, Edinburgh (pictured), Manchester and Amsterdam.

Manish Gudka, chief executive at Aprirose, said: "The acquisition of the Kingsland Road site marks our first move into this exciting and growing sector. There is an undersupply of aparthotels in this part of London making the Kingsland Locke development a strong addition to our real estate portfolio."

Andrew Fowler, acquisitions director at SACO, added: "Our partnership with Aprirose on Kingsland Locke represents an exciting addition to the Locke family. Dalston is an ideal location for Locke. We look forward to working with Aprirose to delivering a unique experience that reflects the locality."

Aprirose's hospitality portfolio also includes the 26-strong QHotels portfolio, which it acquired last year for £525m, and its 73-strong Milton Pubs and Taverns portfolio, which it acquired from Mitchells & Butlers last year.

SACO to expand Locke design-led aparthotel brand in six locations >>

Aprirose buys QHotels portfolio for £525m >>

Aprirose acquires 73 Mitchells & Butlers pubs >>

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