Project “Westflank Noord”: inner-city high rise office and residential towers

Work highlight

30-05-2022

Loyens & Loeff advised the joint venture (JV) between Angelo, Gordon and APF International in relation to the large-scale, inner-city mixed-use project “Westflank Noord”. This project is located in the Jaarbeurs district in Utrecht, in the close vicinity of the railway and railway station. It was executed in cooperation with NS Real Estate, the Municipality, VolkerWessels, Bouwinvest and Amvest.

The assignment

Our Loyens & Loeff team advised the JV between US based real estate investor Angelo, Gordon and Dutch investment manager & developer APF International on:

the acquisition of the development locations by the JV from NS Real Estate;
the ownership structuring, also in view of the intertwining functions of a new square, an underground parking garage, public transport and the railway station, in consultation with NS Real Estate and the Municipality;
four intertwined construction agreements with VolkerWessels (including security structure) for the development and realisation of the different functions of the project;
the turnkey sale and purchase agreements with Bouwinvest for the office building and Amvest for the residential tower.

Challenges faced during the assignment involved the following:

the long and complex history of arrangements between NS Real Estate and the Municipality regarding the area development;
the complex ownership structuring, with ground leases and apartment rights;
back-to-back forwarding of arrangements made with NS Real Estate towards the contractor;
the complexity of the construction site, between other objects - such as the new build municipal offices, the public transport and the railway station.

The result

Acting as developer, the JV acquired the development location from NS Real Estate in the railway and station area in Utrecht. Loyens & Loeff arranged the ownership structuring with NS Real Estate and the Municipality, in view of the intertwining functions of - inter alia - public transport and the railway station.

Four interlinked engineer & build agreements were set up with VolkerWessels – including a security structure – for the development and realisation of the different functions:

an office building, consisting of 22 floors and 28,614 square meters, and with a BREEAM Excellent label;
a residential tower with 7,461 square meters residential space and 409 square meters commercial space;
a parking garage including 366 parking spaces;
a square.

Last but not least, the turnkey sale and purchase agreements were negotiated, with forward funding. With Bouwinvest as the investor for the office building, the residential tower is disposed of in a split purchase and construction transaction with Amvest.

Completion of the office building with the name Central Park and the parking garage took place in August 2021. A few months later the square was completed. Completion of the residential tower is expected to take place later this year.

Find out more

Interested to find out more about this project? Please contact one of our Loyens & Loeff colleagues, mentioned in the ‘Contact us’-section below.

Thanks to our uniquely integrated legal and tax practice, our Project Development & Construction Team provides world class comprehensive support on topics such as contracting, ownership structurering, planning and tax. No matter the project size or complexity: we team up daily with project developers, investors and contractors to build stronger portfolios towards success. After all, effective & efficient management of tax and legal matters is vital during every step of your project. Interested to find out about our other Real Estate work highlights?