Happy Christmas!!

A quick blog to wish all our clients, friends and contacts a very

Happy and Peaceful Christmas

and

Very best wishes for the New Year!

Low Power at Battersea

The owners of Battersea Power Station, Real Estate Opportunities Plc had subsidiary companies placed into administration when a request by the banks, intent on recovering the £502 million they are owed, was acceded to in the court. 

Ernst & Young have been appointed to administer the affairs of Battersea Power Station Shareholder Vehicle Ltd. including REO Power Station Ltd. REO Site Assembly Ltd., REO 88 Kirtling St. Ltd. and REO 8 Brooks Court.

The 38 acre Battersea Power Station site, which includes the remains of the iconic A & B power stations, including the famous 4 chimneys is valued at £500 million and was in line for a £5.5 billion redevelopment having finally obtained planning consent. That permission called for a £200 million contribution to the extension of the Northern line to Nine Elms, to service the 3,400 homes.  It is these wider planning conditions, together with the extensive requirements for sympathetic renovation of the Grade II* listed building that has finally put paid to this last attempt at regeneration of the power station site.  REO are the fourth potential developer in the past 30 years to attempt to rescue the money pit that it has turned out to be.

It is understood that a number of options are being explored, including a suggested interest from Chelsea FC, who are looking for a new stadium site.  It is thought ‘The Blues’ have engaged Mike Hussey to explore the idea.

Perhaps Mr Abramovich has deep enough pockets!

Olympic Village to get a Rebrand

The Olympic Athletes’s village will be rebranded following the games and will become the East Village.

Delancey and Qatari Diar together with Triathlon Homes, the housing consortium running the scheme’s affordable element, today confirmed that most of the 1,439 flats at the east London blocks would be available for rent from 2013 onwards.

The Village will comprise a mix pf property ranging from one bedroom flats through to four bedroom houses and will carry an E20 postcode.  The mixed usage development will also be home to over 20 retail shops and premises as well as a medical centre and the Chobham Academy.  The Academy will take 1,800 children from the ages of 3 – 19 and will, among other subjects, specialise in Sports excellence, no surprises there!

Elliot Lipton of Triathlon Homes said: “Our vision is to deliver a neighbourhood that provides the very best quality homes and services to its residents and one which fosters a welcoming, inclusive, safe and vibrant community.

The development of the Village is seen as one of the key residual assets of the Games and will contribute towards the greater regeneration and transformation of east London post the 2012 Olympic Games.

Green Park Goes to Oxford

Reading’s premier out of town commercial business park has been the subject of a recent acquisition.  PRUPIM has sold the 190 acre park to Oxford Properties Group, the real estate arm of the OMERS Worldwide Group of Companies.

Green Park offers 1.3 million sq ft of Grade A office space and first class amenities to occupiers, which currently includes Cisco Systems, Symantec and Quintiles.  Green Park was so named to reflect its programme to address sustainability and associated “green” issues, which includes the reduction of waste and emissions, the promotion of biodiversity, recycling and a green travel plan.

Green Park occupies a prime location on the M4 and is one of the largest developments of its type in Europe.  Adjacent to Green Park, regular travellers on the M4 can not fail to have noticed Ecotricity’s impressive, and often static, wind turbine at Junction 11 and wondered at its purpose.

DTZ acted for Oxford Properties on the purchase. CBRE acted for PRUPIM.