Beetham Organisation has begun discussions with Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency over the future of its 1m sq ft office scheme at Minories, EC3, and is also in talks with investors to sell a stake in its 52-storey tower on London’s Southbank.
The Liverpool-based developer, led by father and son team Hugh Frost and Stephen Beetham, has been working to stabilise its future and refinance loans on several projects that have come due. The schemes were once valued at more than £1.7bn.
The £89m debt on its Trinity office scheme in EC3 was provided by nationalised Irish lender Anglo Irish Bank, and has been transferred to Nama. Stephen Beetham said that the company was in the process of putting together a business plan that would be submitted to Nama by the end of the year.
This would include a new residential element to the scheme, which would be similar to the residential tower being built by Gerald Ronson’s Heron at the Barbican, EC2.
The scheme, which received planning consent in 2008 and is made up of three buildings designed to look like crystals, was scheduled for completion in 2014.
“The business plan we are putting forward means we will be repaying 100% of our debt to Anglo, and that is what everyone wants,” said Beetham.
“With the new planning consent that we intend to achieve, the majority of the scheme will remain offices, but it will also have a residential angle. If you look at what Heron has done, you can see the values that can be achieved with high-end residential schemes in the City.”
Beetham is also in talks with investors regarding the sale of a stake in its 52-storey tower at Blackfriars, SE1, which it owns in a 50/50 joint venture with Russian property mogul Sergei Polonsky.
The tower will feature 64 luxury apartments and a 261-bedroom Jumeirah hotel.
The £80m debt facility on this scheme was refinanced for 18 months in April this year, and the company is looking for fresh equity and debt to kickstart the project.
The original loan was provided by Royal Bank of Scotland, and 25% was sold down to Allied Irish Bank, but the loan is not scheduled to be transferred to Nama.
“We are talking to investors about the possible sale of a stake and new equity coming in, but we will most likely remain involved,” said Beetham.
mike.phillips@estatesgazette.com
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