Candy & Candy is quitting its Knightsbridge HQ to unlock a £100m mansion development.
Nick Candy’s development/interior design firm will take 10,000 sq ft of temporary space at JLL’s former headquarters at 22-23 Hanover Square, W1, while it searches for a permanent West End base.
The move will unlock a plan to convert C&C’s Rutland House, SW7, headquarters into a six-storey luxury residence. The building is owned by CPC Group, which is to begin work imminently on the five-bedroom development.
A number of residential consents have been secured for Rutland House over the years, with the first obtained in 2007. The existing permission dates back to 2013, when Westminster council approved a plan to combine the six-storey main house and adjacent summer home, which features a swimming pool, massage room, cinema and cocktail lounge. Candy & Candy is expected to carry out the interior design.
The development will also include a one-floor basement extension, a popular addition among the super-rich looking to increase the size of their homes.
Under rules introduced by Kensington & Chelsea council in January, basement extensions can occupy only a single floor following concerns over the damage they can cause to neighbouring property.
According to Beauchamp Estates, prime Knightsbridge residential values now stand at £7,000 per sq ft, giving the Rutland House development a GDV of £95m. The Candy brand would be expected to lend the project a significant prestige premium.
chris.berkin@estatesgazette.com
According to London Central Portfolio research, Knightsbridge is seeing the fastest long-term house price growth in the UK, standing at 16.7% a year between 2008 and 2013.
A source said: “When the Candy brothers push the button on a project they’ve been holding back on for the best part of a decade, other resi developers will be forced to sit up and pay attention.”
CPC purchased the 129-year leasehold on Upper Brook Street for around £13m late in 2014, and paid £18.3m for Rutland House in 2007.
A spokesperson said: “The move will not change C&C’s focus, which continues to be the delivery of world-leading interior design.”
Alongside the Hanover Square space, Candy & Candy and Christian Candy’s
Guernsey-based developer CPC Group are understood also to be considering moving functions into CPC’s 5,433 sq ft Grade II listed 47 Upper Brook Street, W1, later this year as part of the process.
chris.berkin@estatesgazette.com
