A weekly round up of the latest planning and property news from the central London boroughs

Camden

PW reports that Minerva plans £700m debut Camden scheme. Affordable housing group Minerva Smart Cities is in negotiations with Camden borough council in London to build a £700m “meaningfully affordable” residential scheme. The project is the company’s debut development and is intended to provide 750 new homes for rent and 120,000 sq ft of industrial units in the Camley Street area. Minerva has received institutional investor backing for the £700m cost and is in talks with the council to acquire a long lease on the site. To deliver the project, Minerva is working with Karakusevic Carson Architects and Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design in a development partnership called the Camley Street Sustainability Zone (CSSZ).

PW reports that Frogmore has secured a letting at its newly refurbished Weston House scheme in London’s High Holborn at a new rental high for the location in the current cycle. The 3,920 sq ft letting to digital advertising firm, Celtra, on the sixth floor was agreed at a rent of £74.50/sq ft. The firm joins the existing occupiers in the building Mishcon de Reya, Peace Crowell and a UK Government department.

EG reports that HS2 is on track as Euston redevelopment arrives.  One of London’s last major mainline station regeneration opportunities will finally be offered to the market next week.  A tender for Euston Station will be launched through the Official Journal of the European Union seeking partners for the Euston Masterplan.  It is estimated to be around 4.5m sq ft of development on a 15 acre site at a build cost close to £2.5bn.

City of London

PW reports that Tristan Capital and Addington Capital have fully let their City of London office scheme Randall House, achieving similar rents and terms as they did before the Brexit vote. The joint venture partners have signed up GBE Services to the 2,245 sq ft fifth floor of the building, at 6 Dowsgate Hill, at a rent of £70/sq ft. Last June, they achieved a rent of £71.50/sq ft when they let the fourth floor of the building to Rightship UK. In March, Addington had announced lettings to Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions and Minter Ellison at headline rents of around £70/sq ft.

PW reports that Global toy franchise LEGO has signed for additional office space in London at 1 Plough Place in Midtown.  It has taken two floors across 19,424 sq ft at the building which is adjacent to its existing office on New Fetter Lane.  The deal brings its taken office space in the capital to almost 50,000 sq ft.   LEGO is expected to move some of its 275 London-based staff into the new office in Q4 2017.

City of Westminster

PW reports that beleaguered music retailer HMV is set to exit its iconic Oxford Street store, bringing an end to its 96-year association with the street.  Hong Kong’s Glory Step Investments, is negotiating a lease surrender on the property through agents at Savills. The unit at 363 Oxford Street was HMV’s very first shop when it opened as The Gramophone Company in 1921. Other than a temporary two-year move to Bond Street between 1937 and 1939 when the shop was damaged by fire, HMV has always had a flagship store on Oxford Street. It moved to a larger store at 150 Oxford Street in 1986, before relocating back to 363 in 2013. This followed HMV’s collapse into administation and Hilco’s acquisition of the company in the same year.

PW reports that Green Property has completed the sale of 7 and 8 St James’s Square for a combined total of £245.9m to Stanley Ho’s Shun Tak Group.  The price secured for 8 St James’s Square, one of the most prime office buildings in London, which provides 62,200 sq ft of modern office space, reflects a yield of 3.69% and a capital value of £3,425/sq ft.  Green Property acquired 7 and 8 St James’s Square from AIB in November 2008, as part of the Kallakis Portfolio. In spring 2015, it completed the redevelopment of the offices at 8 St James’s Square, where tenants now include Société Général, Steve Cohen’s Point72 and Helly Nahmad Gallery.  Number 7 is a 30,000 sq ft Edwin Lutyens-designed mansion that fronts on to St James’s Square.  Since acquisition, Green has excavated extensively below the listed house to make way for the future construction of a pool, spa and sub-basement car park. A private courtyard garden has also been created.

PW reports that British Land has secured a trio of lettings at its Mayfair office scheme 7 Clarges Street.  The deals, with Capula Investment Management, Quantum Pacific and Fortress Investment Group, bring the 51,000 sq ft building to 83% let.  Capula Investment Management will occupy 23,700 sq ft across three floors while US-based global investment firm Fortress has leased the 8,200 sq ft fourth floor, both for a period of ten years.

PW reports that The Labour Party has almost doubled the size of its headquarters in London Victoria a year after moving there.  A Guardian/ICM poll revealed this week that the party was 16 points behind the Conservatives, although membership has swelled to more than 550,000 in recent months following the Brexit vote.  The Labour Party moved to the scheme, known as Southside and owned by West End of London Property Unit Trust (WELPUT), early last year from a temporary location in Kensington after the lease on its former Westminster office expired at the end of 2015.

PW reports that Qatari investment firm Alduwaliya has bought 13 Great Marlborough Street in Soho in a £30.5m off-market deal.  It has acquired the 23,000 sq ft office from UK Commercial Property Trust (UKCPT) at a yield of 3.3%. The property is let in its entirety to Sony Interactive Entertainment, the research and development arm of Sony, which is behind the virtual reality system PlayStation VR. Its lease expires in September 2018. UKCPT, which was advised by Standard Life Investments, acquired the building in 2006.

PW reports that Hong Kong firm CC Land Holdings, owned by billionaire Cheung Chung-Kiu, is close to acquiring a Paddington office building for £292m.  Hong Kong firm CC Land Holdings, owned by billionaire Cheung Chung-Kiu, has acquired a Paddington office building for £292m.  It has agreed a deal to buy One Kingdom Street from Cityhold Office Partnership.  The 260,000 sq ft building is home to Vodafone and Statoil and was bought by the Cityhold – a joint venture between TIAA and two of Sweden’s national pension funds AP1 and AP2 – in 2011 for around £230m. The JV still holds around £700m of property in London, as well as a number of buildings in other European cities. In total, its portfolio is worth around €2bn.

PW reports Great Portland Estates (GPE) has reported continued strong leasing activity despite warning that it expects London’s commercial property market “to weaken in the near-term”.  The company completed 16 new lettings, generating an annual rent of £7.2m, during the last three months of 2016 – 2% above March 2016’s ERV.  Eleven rent reviews also settled worth £5.5m in annual rent – 2% ahead of ERV – and the developer added that it currently has £4.5m of lettings under offer – 7.8% ahead of last March’s ERV.  The total rent roll now stands at £107.7m, up 7.3% over the quarter.

PW reports that London’s first ‘floating pocket park’ is set to open this spring at Merchant Square in Paddington, following approval from Westminster City Council and the Canal and River Trust.  Developer European Land and Property’s new 7,850 sq ft floating park in Paddington Basin on the Grand Union Canal will provide green public space on the water with its own canal boat mooring. Andrew Scrivener, chief executive at European Land said: “Outdoor spaces are a key ingredient in any successful neighbourhood. At Merchant Square this incredible Floating Pocket Park – the first in London – will not only provide green space for our residents and unique outside workplace for our occupiers, but creates an oasis in the West End, offering Londoners a way to actively reconnect with the canal.”   The park will form part of the Greater London Authority’s ‘green infrastructure’ – an ongoing initiative to improve and connect streets, squares, parks, and canal and riverside spaces across London.  It will include a dedicated area for events with capacity for 120 visitors, designed to extend Merchant Square’s popular programme and attract London-wide partnerships.

EG reports that Hong Kong-listed Emperor Group has exchanged contracts to buy the Ampersand building, W1 from Peterson Group for £260m.  The building is home to King.com, the company behind the Candy Crush Saga game which occupies the entire 67, 791 sq ft of offices.  If the deal completes Peterson will have realised a substantial profit .  It forward funded Ampersand in 2013 in £121m deal with developer Resolution. Emperor also owns the freehold interest of 25-27 Oxford Street which it bought in 2015 for £35.5m.

EG reports that Blackstone’s return on investment before costs from its Mint Hotel portfolio is set to hit £805m, having agreed to sell the Doubletree by Hilton hotel in Westminster, SW1 for £190m, a circa 5% yield.

PW reports that London Executive Offices (LEO) has taken a lease on the ninth floor of Nova South, Land Securities’ prime building in Victoria, London.  The space at Nova South has been acquired on a 17-year lease from Land Secs and boosts the serviced office company’s portfolio to 745,000 sq ft. The transaction takes the total Nova South scheme (including both retail and commercial) to 40% let.  LEO and Land Securities both represented themselves. Cushman & Wakefield and Knight Frank are the retained agents for Land Securities.

 

Hackney

EG reports that Hackney Council has agreed to renew Shoreditch music venue Villiage Underground’s lease for a further 15 years.  The 4700 sq ft at 54 Holywell Lane, EC2 provides studio space for 30 artists and start up businesses and hosts venue events for 30 artists and start up businesses and hosts venue evens including live music, club nights, exhibitions, theatre and the visual arts.

EG reports that Hackney Council is set to buy a large Tesco supermarket site on Morning Lane, E9.  The deal comprises the construction of a new store for Tesco, along with around 325 new homes and a substantial commercial element of around 275,000 sq ft for fashion related uses.

RBKC

PW reports a west London charity has brought 11 prime residential buildings in Chelsea to the market with an asking price of more than £30m. The Trustees of the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals Charity are bringing 1-11 Foulis Terrace in Chelsea to market, appointing Savills to sell the grade-II listed properties. Since the 1960s, the majority of the buildings have provided housing for staff based at the nearby Royal Brompton Hospital, but the charity believe they are no longer fit for this purpose. The proceeds of the sale will be re-invested into the hospital.

Tower Hamlets

PW reports that LBS Properties has secured a £135m senior development loan from ICG-Longbow to fund the construction of The Madison residential tower near Canary Wharf. The loan to finance the 53-storey building, which will comprise 423 flats including 104 affordable homes, is the first deal that the ICG-Longbow Development Fund has done inside the M25. The fund’s previous loans have been for residential projects in various regional cities including Cardiff, Bristol and Southampton. The decision to finance The Madison comes despite the slowdown at the top end of the London housing market.

Wandsworth

PW reports that the £400m redevelopment of a large swathe of the Alton Estate, SW15, moved a step closer this week with the selection of Redrow as Wandsworth Council’s preferred development partner.  The selection was the first in a wave of estate regeneration deals due to be announced around London.