Weekly property news from the central London boroughs

Camden

The Evening Standard reports that a new joint venture between Hong Kong investors Prime Pacific and ED Group plans to spend £240 million in the London property market, starting with a £17 million 22-story Kings Cross development. The first of the joint venture’s developments, known as Brill Place, which has 64 apartments will start construction in 2020.

City of London

Property Week reports that CBRE GI is purchasing RBS’s former headquarters of in the City of London for £183m. Cushman & Wakefield was asked to sell the 13-story, 273,00 sq. ft office block at 280 Bishopsgate. RBS announced their intention to sell the space in 2018 as a cost cutting measure in a business-wide efficacy drive. 250 staff will be moved up the road to their 250 Bishopsgate location.

City of Westminster

Estate Gazette reports that the owner of the Sanderson and St Martin’s Lane hotels in London is considering selling the properties for a combined £250 million. Former Qatari Prime Minister HRH Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Al Thani is the principle owner of the 150 and 204 bed hotels is said to be considering his position in the London property market.

Hammersmith and Fulham

Estates Gazette reports that Capital & Countries is to push forward with a ‘demerger’ of its business into two separate entities by December, as the value of the Earls Court Partnership. Capco plans to spend 30 million to create two independent businesses: Covent Garden London and EC properties. It will seek to turn its Covent Garden Business into a Reit, targeting long-term returns. It will also seek to roll its £173 million 50% stake in the Lille Square residential project, close to its Earls Court Scheme. EC Properties will include Capco’s 63% stake in around 27-acres at Earls Court that it owns with TFL.

Islington

EG reports that Mitsubishi Estate London is selling its Finsbury Square office to Singapore firm Stamford Land in £250 million deal. The 160,00 sq. ft EC2 property was put up for sales by Savills in May. The tenants include Swiss asset management firm GAM Holdings; investment firm Rathbones; consultancy Charles River Associates; and Development Bank of Japan. Designed by architect WilkinsonEyre, it is one of the few large City assets to hit the market this year.

Wandsworth

EG reports that Ballymore has submitted a planning application what will be known as EG:HQ at the heart of Embassy Gardens in the new Nine Elms district of south west London, SW8. Designed by architects Morris+Company, the 217,000sq. ft structure will provide 9,000 sq. ft of communal terraces and 5,000 sq. ft of ground-floor retail and restaurant space. Construction is scheduled to start early next year with completion in 2022. The wider Embassy Garden project will see the creation of nearly 2,000 new homes, John Mulryan, group managing director at Ballymore, said “Nine Elms is fast establishing its itself as a competitive commercial quarter, thanks to the likes of Apple and the US Embassy.