Construction tycoon Terry Bramall is the investor behind the purchase this week of the Beatles’ former headquarters on Savile Row, Estates Gazette can reveal.
The 69-year-old Doncaster Rovers director and his family have bought 3 Savile Row through a limited liability partnership for around £31.9m, a yield of 3.8%, from Kier Group.
The Mayfair block, once home to the Beatles’ label Apple Records, will open next year as the first Abercrombie & Fitch children’s store in the UK. Abercrombie Kids will pay an initial annual rent of £1.2m for the 14,000 sq ft refurbished building on a 20-year lease.
Bramall, a regular on the EG Rich List with an estimated fortune of more than £400m, sold Doncaster-based construction group Keepmoat in 2007. It was co-founded by his father in 1931 but prospered in the 1970s when local authorities started to refurbish their housing stock.
Bramall’s family had a 72% stake in the company when it was sold to the management in a £783m deal backed by Bank of Scotland. The prolific philanthropist then set up development and asset management company 4Urban in Harrogate.
The Savile Row block was the venue of the Beatles’ last gig, performed on the roof in 1969.
Kier bought it for £17m in 2007 from Executive Offices Group founder Peter Kershaw. It will use the proceeds to pay Lloyds the second tranche of a £91m payment to buy out the bank’s 50% interest in the Kier Developments joint venture.
DTZ and Montagu Evans advised Kier on the sale. Kier declined to comment. Brammall, advised by Jackson Criss, could not be reached.
Last year, Bramall was one of the five donors to the arts who signed a letter to prime minister David Cameron warning that having given £100m in total they would not replace any government cuts to arts funding.
julia.cahill@estatesgazette.com
