Crown House, in the centre of Great Yarmouth, was built in 1970 and became an office hub for the Inland Revenue, eventually becoming redundant.
BLEND Network has funded a town centre rehabilitation project, in order to turn a redundant office block in Great Yarmouth into 30 residential flats.
Crown House, in the centre of Great Yarmouth, was built in 1970 and became an office hub for the Inland Revenue, eventually becoming redundant.
BLEND Network has now funded the remodelling of this office block into 30 flats following a £3m-plus investment.
On 31 August, the development was launched in the presence of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and MP for Great Yarmouth Brandon Lewis, council leader Carl Smith and representatives from Blend Network - Yann Murciano, CEO, and Roxana Mohammadian-Molina, chief strategy officer.
The development includes five one and two-bedroom flats duplicated over six floors, each with their own parking.
10 out of the 30 flats have already been sold, with one apartment going for £135,000 - a record for Yarmouth.
Among the buyers so far are retired people as well as those taking advantage of the government's Help to Buy scheme.
Prices for the two-bedroom flats, which are listed on Rightmove, range from £135,000 to £180,000, with the one-bedroom homes ones selling for £95,000 to £110,000.
Murciano said: “We are very pleased with what the developer has achieved in this landmark scheme.
"This scheme is a proof that the process of gentrification is well underway in Great Yarmouth, a town that been refreshed and now has its own London Eye-style ferris wheel and four-star Imperial Hotel set within a long line of cake-like Victorian guesthouses.
"We at Blend Network are very proud to have been able to support the developer through this regeneration scheme.
"This is a type of scheme we are very familiar with after earlier this year we funded the acquisition and conversion of a grand Victorian boot and shoe factory in Northamptonshire into 24 flats.”
Mohammadian-Molina said: “We are delighted to have supported Richard and his team transform this iconic former Government buildings into tens of much-needed new homes in this once illustrious fishing port.
"But this transformation is also a case in point of a broader trend we are witnessing during the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic: the growing number of former offices and company headquarters becoming available for housing.
"Yet property developers looking to raise funding for such schemes know that it is always best to approach and work with specialist lenders who truly understand the conversion process and the challenges associated with it.”
This news follows the launch of BLEND Network's development product with guaranteed exits.
