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

Camden

PW reports that 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 intended to provide 750 new homes for rent and 120,000 sq ft of industrial units in the Camley Street area. The residential units would be rented out at rates as low as 40% of the market value, with the industrial units offered at around 60% of Market rent. The site, which comprises the Ceder Way Industrial Estate, 121-126 Camley Street and adjacent land to the south, will be built out in a phased manner.

City of London

PW reports that Tristan Captial and Addington Capital have fully let their City of London office scheme Randal 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 rate 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.

EG reports that TH Real Estate has moved to derisk it’s 1m st ft redevelopment of Leadenhall Triangle EC3, by launching a search for an investment partner. Cushman & Wakefield has been instructed to find a partner for the 2.5 acre site, which is valued at around £365m. The Western site has planning permission for 890,000 sq ft of offices and 20,000 sq ft of shops. Following a land swap agreement with the City Corporation, the 1.5 acre Western site will be held freehold. The Eastern site, is held on a long lease for a term of 200 years.

EG reports that Lego is expanding its London office presence by signing for 19,424 sq ft at Kirkbi’s 1 Plough Place, EC4. The new space is adjacent to it’s current office at 8-10 New Fetter Lane, where it has 28,852 sq ft. Last year the toymaker instructed JILL to find it a new 100,000 sq ft HQ in London but later scaled back its plans, pulling out of talks to go to Argent’s Kings Cross Central, N1.

Hackney
PW reports that property developer Telford Homes will develop a £95m residential scheme in the former London Electricity Board building in Bethnal Green, East London, which it has bought for £30.2m. The 0.94 acre site located near Bethnal Green Underground station and the nearby Whitechapel Crossrail station will deliver new open market and affordable homes along with an element of commercial space.  Jon Di-Stefano, chief executive of Telford Homes said that the expected gross development value of the scheme would be around £95m.

Hammersmith and Fulham

PW reports that Investec Structured Property Finance has provided a £30m development loan for a residential-led scheme on a former Tesco-owned site in Fulham in a show of confidence in the prime end of the London market. The 24-month facility will help finance Meyer Homes’ plans for the creation of 48 flats, 10 townhouses and 9,000 sq ft of retail on Fulham High Street. Stephen Martin at Investec said the lender was still prepared to back prime projects in central London despite the slowdown in the market over the past year. The one-acre Fulham site was acquired by Meyer Bergman as part of a portfolio of 14 sites from Tesco’s residential development arm Spenhill in 2015 for £250m. Meyer Homes was formed to bring forward the developments. Construction of the Fulham scheme is already under way, with completion expected in the second quarter of 2018.

Kensington and Chelsea

EG reports that The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has granted detailed planning consent for Exhibition Square and Capital & Counties redevelopment of Earls Court SW5. The detailed plans include two buildings designed by architect KPF creating 69,000 sq ft of hotel and 62,000 sq ft of office space, alongside redevelopment of the public realm and Earls court station.

Westminster

EG reports that Westminster City Council are offering a prime west end space for just £30 per sq ft. The space is a 50,000 sq ft underground carpark in Cavenish Square, W1. The council is offering the top level of the three-tier car park to a range of occupiers. Commercial space above ground in the area can cost as much as £100 per sq ft. A number of uses are being considered, including a gym, restaurant, bar, museum, health centre, or a depot for an online retailer of logistics firm. It has vehicle access, a staircase, a lift, 78 light wells and a central ceiling height of 2.7m

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 a private Asian investor.  Green property said that the sale represents a 3.69% yield. The office building provides 62,200 sq ft of office space and was acquired by Green Property from AIB in November 2008.”This sale highlights the resilience of very prime London properties in a post-Brexit-referendum environment”, said Mike Tapp, Green Property director.

PW reports that Kier Group has put its HQ office building on the market in a sale-and-leaseback deal for £92m. The FTSE 250 construction firm has appointed agents at Cushman & Wakefield and Michael Elliot to forward and sell 33 Foley Street, in Fitzrovia which it is currently constructing. It will sign a 20-year RPI-linked lease at the 41,883 sq ft building at an annual rent of almost £3.2m. Kier bought the building, the former home of the BBC, with Investec in 2015 for £55m and gained planning permission last year for the refurbishment and extension of the building. It will move out of its Cavendish Place office to the new site when it completes in August.

PW reports that Music retailer HMV is set to exit its iconic Oxford Street store, bringing an end to it’s 96 year association with the street. The stores landlord Hong Kong’s Glory Step investments, is negotiating a lease surrender on the property through agents at Savills.

PW reports that the owner of Langham Estates, Tak Lee has increased his shareholdings in Shaftesbury’s West End Holdings to more than 16%,having slowly increased his stake from 3% last year. The property developer has long been rumored to be interested in mounting a takeover bid for Shaftesbury. It is likely that he is looking to take advantage of the fall in the value of the pound against the Hong Kong dollar since the EU referendum.