The former Legal & General headquarters building in Surrey is being sold with a price tag of £70m.
Knight Frank has been appointed by joint LPA receivers Steve Absolom and Rob Croxen of KPMG to sell the Kingswood Campus, as either a residential development or income-producing opportunity.
It is currently occupied by L&G’s Assurance Society arm, which will vacate the building by 2018 after beginning a phased closure this year.
When the closure was announced in January, L&G group commercial director Simon Burke said: “The Kingswood building, for all its history and strengths, is our least adaptable building to changing business demands, and has high rent and running costs. Closing it is not an easy decision to make, but it is the correct one for Legal & General and our customers.”
The 380,066 sq ft office campus sits on 43 acres of green belt land near Kingswood station.
Finding a new office tenant for the site is expected to be difficult, so it is also being marketed as a residential development opportunity through the Knight Frank residential team.
Justin Gaze, joint head of residential development at Knight Frank, said: “The Kingswood Campus offers two clear opportunities, redevelopment or as a secure income stream.
“The asset has a unique offering, with potential for developers to secure a site of scale with significant opportunity for redevelopment.”
Knight Frank says the site, with a proper planning consent, has the potential for residential, senior living, hotel or as a mixed-use scheme.
In the post-referendum world, a sale could act as a major bellwether for the South East commuter-belt market.
“Alternatively, following the UK’s vote to leave the EU, there is currently a strong appetite for assets with a long and secure income, especially ones with a robust underlying residual value, such as the Kingswood Campus,” added Gaze.
In 2006 a British Land subsidiary sold the investment vehicle that held the property for £73.6m to Kingswood Property Holdings.
See also: British Land sells Surrey offices for £73.6m
• To send feedback, e-mail alex.peace@estatesgazette.com or tweet @EGAlexPeace or @estatesgazette
