by Edward Simpkins
Dorry Investment Holdings has clinched a deal to sell the 3ha (7 acre) Effra development site in Vauxhall, SE1, to Berkeley Group for what it claims is close to the £50m asking price.
Four bids, two from UK parties, were received by David Baker at Colliers Erdman Lewis, which was marketing the site for Middle Eastern-backed Dorry.
Tony Pidgley, managing director of Berkeley, said: “St George & Co, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Berkeley, has a binding contractual arrangement with the owners of that site.”
He refused to be drawn on the nature of the deal or the price and added: “Nobody else is going to buy it until such time as our arrangements come to an end.”
The £50m price-tag was regarded as excessive by some agents. Another UK residential developer, which did not bid, claimed that Berkeley Group had started negotiating at around £30m. But Baker maintained that the deal was close to the asking price.
Pidgley said that Berkeley was not looking for partners for the development: “Berkeley works on its own account. It is a great site and I hope we can take it on to the next stage.”
Outline planning consent exists on the site, now called Thames Plaza, for 68,281m2 (735,000 sq ft) of offices and 20,206m2 (217,500 sq ft) of residential plus 10,451m2 (112,500 sq ft) of retail and leisure.
The scheme was designed by Terry Farrell, who was also the architect for the nearby MI6 building. Dorry bought the land in 1986 without planning consent.
Berkeley is thought to be buying the site on unconditional terms without detailed planning consent, but Lambeth council is sympathetic to altering the consents. “We’d like to see a mixed development, perhaps with less office and more residential,” said a council official.
Colliers Erdman Lewis is to be reinstructed on the commercial elements of the development and Colliers Jardine will be instructed to market the residential element in the Far East.
Lambeth council has made a £5m Capital Challenge funding application to “radically transform the transport system” around Thames Plaza and make it more pedestrian friendly with additional bus and cycle lanes and footpaths. It has also applied to the Mil-lennium Commission for lottery money to restore the old Festival Gardens site to a public park to be called Spring Gardens.
