"This is our first aparthotel and were really pleased with the high-quality, finished product. More importantly, I am delighted with the market response."
George Jenkins, MD of Modo Bloc
North East design-led developer Modo Bloc has just completed one of its more ambitious and upmarket projects in Newcastle.
The city developer has opened Chelmsford Lofts, a stylish 8-flat aparthotel in Sandyford, and sees this as the start of a new phase of growth and regional expansion.
This £1.5m development – originally three tired flats which had to be gutted, extended and refurbished - has taken two years to bring to market. Within weeks of opening Chelmsford Lofts is proving popular with people booking weekend ‘staycations’ and booking longer corporate stays for work.
George Jenkins, MD of Modo Bloc, explained: “This is our first aparthotel and we’re really pleased with the high-quality, finished product. More importantly, I am delighted with the market response and interest we are getting in renting the apartments. We’ve hit the market at the perfect time with the nationwide explosion in staycations.”
Chelmsford Lofts, available via Airbnb, is a mixture of one and two bedroom apartments, completed to a high-spec with luxury interiors and furnishings.
Modo Bloc has also just broken ground on a seven-townhouse site in Ouseburn Valley, overlooking the River Tyne. The company is also working on another four sites in Ouseburn and has a further 12 townhouses in Durham in planning.
Over the last two years, Modo Bloc has pipelined over £60m worth of developments. George Jenkins explained that he and his team have moved on from student accommodation and small refurbishments to larger residential conversions along with building new homes and land development.
George said: “Our future projects are getting larger and more substantial. I have ambitious growth plans, which involve gradually expanding into other regions of the UK with bigger and more complex developments.
“Now that I’ve made the move from refurbishments to new builds, I look forward to building more homes and developing more land to increase my pipeline even further. We’re always looking at interesting investment and development options in the North East and beyond.”
