Next case study

Cardiff Marine Group borrowed From £25,000 to £810,000 over several loans to purchase new equipment, add more services to their offering and expand the business.

Read now

Property Bridging loan – The Shankly Hotel

When husband and wife duo, Lawrence and Katie Kenwright grew tired of being charged additional hotel fees for a typically substandard service the couple set out to create their very own brand of luxury ‘Aparthotels’ providing guests with a luxury home away from home with no unwanted surprises.

Signature Living Hotel Ltd located in Stanley Street, Liverpool was born in 2008 with the aim of accommodating large groups and families in Liverpool city centre. The company then went on to create 30 James Street, the Titanic Hotel, in the former White Star Line building. The chain has since grown to become one of the major operators in Liverpool with number one listings on TripAdvisor for both hotels and speciality lodgings.

The Kenwright’s most recent project – The Shankly Hotel – will celebrate iconic former Liverpool FC manager Bill Shankly and is due to open in August ready for the start of the 2015/2016 Premier League season. Centrally situated on Victoria Street, this Signature Hotel has on-the-doorstep access to Liverpool’s vibrant night life.

“The Shankly Hotel is more than just accommodation; it is set to become a major tourist attraction in Liverpool, which will ultimately promote the city as an amazing destination in the UK”, Lawrence Kenwright.

As part of the development, thought to be worth in the region of £15m, Signature have turned to pioneering peer-to-peer lending platform FundingKnight for a 12 month property bridging loan of £750,000.

The group recently acquired the former 145K sq ft office building from Liverpool City Council and its location in the middle of Liverpool’s main retail core with a 115 space undercroft car park that is ripe for public use.

FundingKnight is pleased to have supported the hotel’s expansion with a £750k property bridging loan to Signature Car Park Ltd, a subsidiary of Signature Living Hotel Ltd.

Delivering on our responsive lending promise, FundingKnight secured the funding that Signature Living required rapidly. The funds are due to be delivered within 21 days of the application being submitted, thereby proving that peer-to-peer lending through FundingKnight can provide a responsive and rapid access to secured finance, as well as unsecured business loans.

What is essentially a complex financing arrangement has been structured into a simple loan for our registered lenders to invest in. The loan is secured on a car park and its revenue stream which is expected to earn £27,000 per month. What’s more, the loan term is just 12 months long, fulfilling the demand for short-term investment from our Lenders. The loan has been filled and met its reserve rate within 21 hours of auction launch.

Alan Hill, Director of Business Loans 4U who brokered the bridging loan for Signature Living spoke of his delight in working with FundingKnight on this deal. In over 25 years of commercial finance this process was “without doubt the quickest and slickest” that he has experienced. Alan added that “Even some of the traditional bridging funders we put this enquiry to had only just responded by the time the loan was fully funded. That’s a real testament to how efficient FundingKnight and their staff have been.”

Register as an investor on the FundingKnight platform by clicking here.