Property entrepreneur Johnny Sandelson, with backing from a Brunei investor, has quietly amassed an eight-acre private estate in Queensway, W2, for a major regeneration play.
Sandelson has orchestrated the extraordinary off-market land grab over the past nine months using funds from a ?consortium of investors led by the private family office in Brunei and including Meyer Bergman.
Sandelson’s estate is anchored by two major acquisitions: the Grade II listed 300,000 sq ft Whiteleys shopping centre from Standard Life Investments for circa £120m and the Queensway Estate on the edge of Hyde Park from Robert Bourne’s group, Bourne Capital, for an additional £100m.
The Queensway Estate, which is located close to the Underground station, includes Queen’s Ice and Bowl ice rink, Queensway market, shops, flats and offices.
It is thought that up to £500m in total has been spent piecing together the land through “hundreds” of individual deals along Queensway, running from Bayswater Road up to Westbourne Grove, according to a source.
Sandelson plans to give the area a major facelift and has engaged Dixon Jones, the architecture firm behind the Royal Opera House and a new wing at the National Portrait Gallery, to create a 10-year plan.
Sandelson’s vision is expected to include improved retail, leisure, residential and public realm space with a focus on refurbishing and enhancing the existing area. There are aspirations to mirror the success of Covent Garden with an upscale mix of tenants.
The entrepreneur is understood to have met with Robert Davis, deputy leader of Westminster council, to realise his strategy for the area.
Sandelson has built a career out of property development and refurbishment across the country, and has overseen the planning and development of 300,000 sq ft in central London alone.
In 2004, he launched GuestInvest, the UK’s first buy-to-let scheme. Most recently, he bought Somerset Place, a Georgian crescent in Bath, for a £60m restoration project.
One source close to the deal said: “It is truly extraordinary what Sandelson has done. There will be a major regeneration and gentrification of Queensway. It has the potential to be quite upmarket with smart shops, restaurants and residential.
“Queensway has had a number of different landowners, therefore it has lacked that focus that one landowner brings. Sandelson and his team will give it a major facelift. Over the next three to five years, using the right retail expertise, you can rapidly change the face of Queensway.”
annabel.dixon@estatesgazette.com
