An international consortium, comprising the UK’s Native Land, Singapore’s Temasek and Hotel Properties Limited (HPL), and Malaysia’s Amcorp Properties, has announced the formation of a joint venture, which has exchanged contracts to acquire Sampson House and Ludgate House from global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG), for £308 million. The Carlyle Group managed the asset on behalf of its third European fund CEREPIII.
The transaction will result in the creation of the new Bankside Quarter, a 1.4 million sq ft residential, office and retail development, which will further enhance an area undergoing a transformation through a raft of other improvements.
The expanded Tate Modern, the new Blackfriars Station linking the north and south bank of the River Thames and the recently opened Mondrian hotel have already combined to make the area a vibrant new London location.
A planning consent for the redevelopment of the 5.3 acre site, designed by PLP Architecture, was secured by Carlyle in March 2014 and comprises permission for 489 apartments and 288,000 sq ft of offices, as well as retail, leisure and cultural facilities. When completed, the project will comprise five residential buildings and four office buildings.
The development will rise from 13 to 49 storeys and will create new routes reconnecting the eastern and western sides of a railway viaduct where the existing buildings have formed an impermeable barrier through the site since the 1970s.
The planning consent also ensures a payment in lieu of affordable housing of £65 million payable to Southwark Council.
Native Land is appointed as development manager to the consortium.
Alasdair Nicholls, Chief Executive of Native Land, commented on behalf of the consortium: “The development of the Bankside Quarter will set the seal on London’s finest emerging location. By unblocking routes through this strategically important site as well as significantly enhancing the public realm the area will become even more popular for residents, businesses and visitors from across the globe.
“The project will also deliver much needed private and affordable housing in the borough, where there is a shortage of supply.
“The consortium which has been assembled to deliver the project represents the best in international development and funding expertise. We are confident that we can deliver a major new destination for London, adding to the strong foundations already laid in the Bankside area.”
Mark Harris, Managing Director at The Carlyle Group, commented: “Since acquiring these two properties in 2010 Carlyle has successfully laid the foundations for the transformation of this important part of the South Bank area, creating a project which offers a once in a lifetime chance to regenerate a prime, central London site and create a new community while transforming one of London’s most popular riverbank locations. Through forward planning and by utilising our strong asset management capabilities, the team at Carlyle was able to create a new vision for a distressed site which we will now look forward to watching Native Land deliver.
“Ludgate House and Sampson House are the last two properties from the WhiteTower portfolio of six assets we acquired in 2010 and this transaction marks the conclusion of what has been a very successful investment on behalf of our investors.”
Native Land intends to deliver the project in a series of phases, with the first phase including a 49-storey tower comprising 211 apartments fronting the River Thames. The subsequent phase will deliver a Grade A office building, with later phases including the redevelopment of Sampson House, which is currently leased to IBM until 2025 but with a mutual break option in June 2018.
The development’s three tallest towers are designed by PLP as a “family of forms”, with masonry of a warm colour borrowed from adjacent existing buildings and ensuring that the development relates to its surroundings and the river Thames.
The overall site has been identified as an `opportunity area’ in the Mayor of London’s London Plan, and is immediately adjacent to Blackfriars Station’s southern entrance. It also benefits from excellent links to the City of London, the West End, Canary Wharf and the capital’s international transport destinations.
Source. Carlyle Group 30. March 2015