The Mayfair block which housed Marco Pierre White’s iconic Mirabelle restaurant could be transformed into a £400m residential scheme designed by US architect Robert Stern.
Brockton Capital, the fund manager led by David Marks and Jason Blank, has been quietly piecing together full ownership of the 0.4-acre corner site at 56 Curzon Street, W1, since 2007. It will now approach investors hungry for opportunities in the resilient prime London residential market about a £200m sale.
Stern has drawn up designs for a 125,000 sq ft scheme, which Savills believes would have an end value of around £400m.
This would price the 88,000 sq ft of residential space at £4,500 per sq ft. Recent sales at London’s most expensive residential scheme, One Hyde Park, SW1, have achieved more than £6,000 per sq ft.
The proposals include a restaurant, garden, spa, gallery and underground parking.
The existing block contains around 35 flats plus the restaurant, which closed in 2008.
Brockton’s first fund – which reaches the end of its seven-year life in 2013 – owns the freehold and bought in 21 sets of interests, completing the site assembly a year ago. A handful of residential tenants are on three-month ASTs.
It would be Stern’s first UK project. The designs are thought to reflect his love of historic buildings – evident in his Central Park West scheme in New York, which became a favourite of hedge fund managers.
Stern is understood to have met with Westminster, but plans have not yet been lodged.
Tim Whitmey, director at Savills – which is acting for Brockton alongside Franc Warwick – said: “This is one of the best residential development sites left in London.”
