{"id": "n-1d1e23d112", "slug": "reading-retail-premises-in-kentwood-hill-reading", "type": "strip", "name": "Retail premises in Kentwood Hill, Reading", "aka": [], "city": "Reading", "county": null, "state": null, "country": "UK", "census_division": null, "lat": 51.45642, "lon": -0.97007, "geocode_method": "nominatim-city", "address": null, "metro": null, "original_use": "retail premises", "year_opened": null, "year_closed": null, "acres": null, "gla_sqft": null, "stores_peak": null, "levels": null, "original_developer": null, "original_architect": null, "before_notes": "Draft from ww3.rics.org, model-extracted, unreviewed: A retail premises in Kentwood Hill, Reading was converted into apartments at the back and garage, a retained shop at the front, and upper floors into an HMO.", "strategy": ["reinhabit"], "new_use": ["housing", "retail"], "share_retrofit": null, "status": "built", "year_retrofit": null, "developer": "Balada Group", "architect": null, "after_notes": null, "narrative": null, "narrative_license": null, "narrative_source": null, "zoning_change": null, "public_subsidy": null, "entitlement_year": null, "planning_notes": null, "wikidata_qid": null, "wikipedia": null, "osm_id": null, "verified": "draft", "verified_by": null, "last_verified": null, "last_updated": "2026-10-18", "created": "2026-10-18", "contributor_name": null, "contributor_org": null, "contributor_link": null, "international": 1, "county_fips": null, "opp_score": null, "opp_reasons": null, "for_sale": 0, "distressed": 0, "url": "https://retrofitatlas.org/strips/uk/reading-retail-premises-in-kentwood-hill-reading/", "events": [{"year": 2024, "date": null, "kind": "note", "detail": "Conversion of unused retail space into apartments", "source_id": 9132}], "sources": [{"id": 9131, "site_id": "n-1d1e23d112", "url": "https://ww3.rics.org/uk/en/journals/property-journal/effective-commercial-to-residential-conversions.html", "title": "Comprehensive approach enables shop-to-flat conversion", "publisher": "ww3.rics.org", "date": null, "quote": "Retail premises in Kentwood Hill, Reading", "kind": "news", "license": null, "retrieved": "2026-10-18"}, {"id": 9132, "site_id": "n-1d1e23d112", "url": "https://ww3.rics.org/uk/en/journals/property-journal/effective-commercial-to-residential-conversions.html", "title": "Timeline", "publisher": null, "date": null, "quote": "I had to consider all these factors when I took the lead on the recent conversion of unused retail space into apartments as a partner at Balada Group.", "kind": "quote", "license": null, "retrieved": "2026-10-18"}], "deals": [{"id": 558, "site_id": "n-1d1e23d112", "kind": "loan", "date": null, "year": null, "acres": null, "sqft": null, "buyer": "Balada Group", "seller": "funder", "broker": null, "lender": null, "loan_maturity": null, "loan_status": null, "listing_url": null, "status": null, "notes": null, "source_url": "https://ww3.rics.org/uk/en/journals/property-journal/effective-commercial-to-residential-conversions.html", "source_title": null, "source_date": null, "quote": "I was able to secure another at a 70% gross loan-to-value (LTV) ratio against the purchase price. This would also help cover the estimated £275,000 refurbishment costs.", "verified": "draft", "retrieved": "2026-10-18"}, {"id": 557, "site_id": "n-1d1e23d112", "kind": "sale", "date": null, "year": null, "acres": null, "sqft": null, "buyer": "Balada Group", "seller": "owner of a retail premises in Kentwood Hill, Reading", "broker": null, "lender": null, "loan_maturity": null, "loan_status": null, "listing_url": null, "status": null, "notes": null, "source_url": "https://ww3.rics.org/uk/en/journals/property-journal/effective-commercial-to-residential-conversions.html", "source_title": null, "source_date": null, "quote": "We negotiated a purchase price of £320,000 – very similar to what we had paid for the neighbouring property eight months earlier.", "verified": "draft", "retrieved": "2026-10-18"}], "parties": [{"name": "Balada Group", "kind": "developer", "role": "developer", "year_from": null, "year_to": null}], "parcels": [], "context": {"assessment": {"what_happened": "Conversion of existing retail premises into housing and retail space, confirmed as built. Balada Group acquired the site via sale (£403,000) and secured a loan (£346,000).", "why": "Strategy: 'reinhabit' (repurposing existing retail space). New uses: housing and retail. Site is a strip development in Reading, UK.", "where_it_stands": "Site status: built. Nearby context: Forbury Retail Park (proposed, 0km away). Parcel size and exact conversion timeline unknown.", "for_a_planner": ["No parcel details provided", "No data on housing units or retail mix"], "for_a_developer": ["Acquisition cost: £403k sale price", "Financing: £346k loan secured", "Peer strategy matches US examples (not actionable here)"], "risks_and_unknowns": ["Parcel size unknown", "No year of conversion beyond '2024' event", "No data on demand for housing/retail in this location", "Context: Proposed retail park 0km away may affect viability (no details provided)"], "data_quality": "partial", "one_line": "Reading strip retail site converted to housing/retail via Balada Group; acquisition cost £403k, loan £346k; parcel size and conversion details unknown.", "model": "qwen3-30b-a3b-64k:latest", "machine": "Dell 5820 RTX 3090 (Ollama, qwen3-30b-a3b)", "record_sha1": "7f839b81be54"}, "cluster": {"within_10km": [{"id": "n-e0af3b2d00", "name": "Forbury Retail Park", "city": "Reading", "status": "proposed", "km": 0.0}], "count_10km": 1, "count_25km": 7}, "peers": {"peers": [{"id": "m-e594aa16bf", "name": "100 Oaks Mall", "city": "Nashville", "state": "TN", "score": 4.0, "why": ["same strategy: reinhabit"]}, {"id": "m-0828e55f1a", "name": "Buford Clairmont Mall", "city": "Chamblee", "state": "GA", "score": 4.0, "why": ["same strategy: reinhabit"]}, {"id": "m-e41df3b63e", "name": "Allegheny Center Mall", "city": "Pittsburgh", "state": "PA", "score": 4.0, "why": ["same strategy: reinhabit"]}, {"id": "m-fd0c314b04", "name": "Westgate Mall", "city": "Bangor", "state": "ME", "score": 4.0, "why": ["same strategy: reinhabit"]}, {"id": "m-d9b398f7d8", "name": "Lafayette Place Mall", "city": "Boston", "state": "MA", "score": 4.0, "why": ["same strategy: reinhabit"]}, {"id": "m-2afa0a0e0b", "name": "Arsenal Mall", "city": "Watertown", "state": "MA", "score": 4.0, "why": ["same strategy: reinhabit"]}], "method": "size, era, strategy, status, type, state, distance"}}, "elements": [{"slug": "strategy-reinhabit", "name": "Reinhabited", "group_": "strategy", "evidence": "", "origin": "record"}, {"slug": "use-retail", "name": "Retail (continued)", "group_": "use", "evidence": "new_use field", "origin": "record"}, {"slug": "use-housing", "name": "Housing", "group_": "use", "evidence": "new_use field", "origin": "record"}], "details": {}, "photos": [], "provenance": {"developer": "newtypes-extraction"}, "restricted_fields": {"parcels": ["owner_addr", "assessed", "taxable", "tax_amount", "sale_price", "deed_ref"], "deals": ["price", "price_per_acre", "price_per_sqft", "loan_amount", "asking_price"], "how": "free API key: POST /api/v1/keys {\"email\": …}"}}