Criterion Capital has hung a for-sale sign over a flagship 1,500-home development opportunity in East London.
The firm is seeking offers over £170m – a circa 7% yield – for its 593,233 sq ft East India Dock campus, E14, which also has potential to form a major tech office hub.
Built by NCC in 1993, the 6.4-acre estate is let to 19 tenants, providing rental income of £12.3m pa – a rate of £20.52 per sq ft.
Criterion bought the Canary Wharf block in 2006 from German fund KanAm for £163m, putting it up for sale for £200m in 2010.
As part of a drive into the PRS arena, Criterion entered the pre-application process in 2014 with Tower Hamlets and the Greater London Authority to demolish the block, working up plans for 1,359 private rental flats and 41,473 sq ft of commercial space.
The project would cover 1.3m sq ft across four towers, with the first phase covering 455 homes and 15,000 sq ft of commercial space. A prior approval application for office-to-resi conversion is to be submitted shortly.
But its location in a low-rent area near Canary Wharf means it is expected to attract interest from tech and IT landlords, as well as residential developers.
Tenants include IT firms Pershing and Sungard Availability Services.
The tenants are due to vacate between 2015 and 2025, leaving the estate open for a phased redevelopment.
The sale has been primed to capitalise on big-ticket City and Docklands demand, after a bumper Q4 2014 saw £5bn of transactions – the highest quarterly total on record, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
Michael Elliott and Savills are advising.
