We're regularly recommended to new clients, and it was a kind referral from a longstanding surveyor friend that resulted in us managing the marketing and sale of this strategic site on the outskirts of the fashionable Kentish seaside town of Broadstairs.
Bought as part of a portfolio in the late 1990's, our clients were fortunate enough to be able to play the long game - leaving the land fallow for more than two decades whilst a planning overage expired. Once free of the fetter, the owners did the obvious thing and submitted a residential scheme for pre-application advice. Indeed, the Council shared the view that residential was an appropriate use having allocated much of the site for residential development in their Local Plan.
Our appraisal, however, concluded that residential was only one of several possible uses for the site. Our thinking was that at c2.3 acres a large residential scheme would require an affordable housing provision of at least 35%. The low benchmark value would make viability argument difficult, and with residential
values limited and build costs rising at the time, it was likely that no land value would be forthcoming from any affordable element.
With that in mind we ensured that our marketing campaign was farreaching, and ultimately received offers for residential development, commercial development and from close care operators. In fact it was the demand for, and undersupply of care beds in Thanet that ultimately drove the value. The top three bidders were all care operators, and Leeds-based LNT Care Developments were selected as the preferred buyer. LNT have built more than 200 care homes nationwide, and their experience told. They secured consent for a 66 bed care home in less than 5 months, and completed their purchase just 9 months after exchanging conditional contracts.
PROJECT ADDRESS: Land at Northwood Road, Broadstairs, Kent CT10 2NH
