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Bloomberg
Property investors London & Regional Group Holdings Ltd. and Chelsfield Partners LLP are considering selling one of the most valuable development sites in the U.K. capital, with an asking price of about 300 million pounds ($427 million), according to three people familiar with the matter.
Various options are being considered for the Elizabeth House plot in the Waterloo district, from selling a stake to disposing the entire plot, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The sale price would be the highest for a development plot in London this year.
Elizabeth House, on the south side of the River Thames, was at the center of a battle in 2013 pitting the developers against the United Nations Educational Scientific & Cultural Organization, which warned the project could damage the World Heritage status of the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey. The approved plans for the site include 1.4 million square feet (130,064 square meters) of offices, homes and stores, replacing a 1960s office tower adjoining London’s busiest railway station at Waterloo.
The owners have hired broker CBRE Group Inc. to advise on options for the project, a spokesman said.
“Chelsfield and L&R are fully committed to the delivery of this landmark project for which planning permission was secured in late 2015,†the spokesman for the joint venture said by e-mail. “Whilst undertaking the preparatory works, we are deliberating on bringing in a new investment partner.†He declined to comment further.
The development would connect with the redevelopment of the Shell Center on the south bank of the River Thames being undertaken by Canary Wharf Group and Qatari Diar.