Guests not amused to be in Victoria
Thistle hotels has come up with an ingenious way to rebrand some of its shabby hotels in less-than-desirable London locations. The chain has decided to ride on the coat-tails of one of the grand old dames of the London luxury hotel scene, Grosvenor House, by renaming the Thistle Victoria the Grosvenor Hotel.
Diary wonders how many well-heeled visitors to the capital will be misled into staying in the middle of its busiest transport interchange, rather than the anticipated surrounds of Mayfair.
REIT wrong-footed by taxman’s right move
Hammerson surprised and gladdened the market this week with a pleasing set of results (p54). Having 30% of your assets on the Continent now seems to be a good thing after all.
But having 100% of your shares in a real estate investment trust stopped being a good thing last week.
The tax authorities have now cleared up the little matter of what would happen to Hammerson’s capital gains tax liabilities – remaining from its conversion to a REIT – if it were to be taken private.
The lack of clarity on this issue has staved off bidders for at least nine months. The bad news for Hammerson is that HM Revenue & Customs now says CGT won’t come back and bite any buyer.
The good news is that it is now a great deal harder to raise a loan to buy the business.
The Russians are coming, along with…
DTZ is one of several UK agents that is cutting back on the number of staff it is sending to this year’s MIPIM.
One disappointed DTZ staffer was heard ranting about Cannes being taken over by the Russians, saying “all you see along the Croisette are adverts for the third biggest city in Azerbaijan.”
Sorry to annoy him further, but there will, in fact, be a record attendance of more than 30,000 this year – and, yes, lots from strange countries with funny names.
…those chesty ladies from Cheshire
There will be some comfort for the Brits at MIPIM. The ladies from Cheshire are coming again. The girls, who charge “£250 an hour – or part thereof” – for providing comfort, will be out and about in Cannes in force, we gather.
This information is gleaned from the fact that the madam wanted to book an advert in EG, promoting the service. The advertising department turned her down. Will this do, girls?
Zero carbon great, but what is zero carbon?
Having set a target for new homes to be zero carbon by 2016, there is growing tension in government over exactly what a zero-carbon development would constitute.
The Treasury’s definition, drawn up to calculate which homes qualify for stamp duty relief, says such homes must produce all the energy they use.
However, this has proven so stringent that only six zero- carbon homes have been built.
Good for the Treasury, but bad for the Department of Communities and Local Government, which wants 2m new homes by the 2016 deadline.
The DCLG, alongside Defra, is sympathetic to warnings from housebuilders that a zero-carbon commercial development on the Treasury’s terms would be practically impossible, but it is having difficulty convincing the Treasury to loosen its purse strings.
One car dents JLL’s green credentials…
The environmentalists at Upstream, the green consultancy absorbed by Jones Lang LaSalle last month, will be pleased their new colleagues are committed to a low-carbon lifestyle.
As part of JLL’s sustainability drive, head of UK offices Chris Hiatt, the man charged with integrating Upstream into the company, has already reduced his annual business mileage from 30,000 to a commendable 18,000 over the past three years.
However, Upstream may be less taken with his choice of car.
Hiatt drives a Porsche – a car whose manufacturer destroyed its green credentials this month by threatening to sue the GLA over its plans to set a CO2 tax in the congestion charge zone.
…while another could mark the downturn
Top Gear fans who frequent St Christopher’s Place in the West End – a stone’s throw from the Selfridges department store – may be familiar with the sight of the black, two-seater Jaguar XKR regularly parked in the vicinity.
The number plate suggests a property connection: RE51 BOY. But, the plate is now up for sale – advertised in last week’s Sunday Times for £5,000. Could this be yet another sign that the market has turned? Or just that the owner fancies a change?
Where Ronson ‘can’t hear himself smoke’
Gerald Ronson is keen on Lee Polisano, the worldwide president of architect KPF, and regularly employs his firm to design large projects.
But Ronson is apparently less keen on KPF’s studios in Covent Garden, which are a stone’s throw from the Pineapple dance studios. These have a tendency to emit a fair bit of noise in the summer during rehearsals.
“Ronson hates it there as he can’t hear himself smoke,” one attendee to meetings has remarked.
Ronson, uncle of the Brit-award winning producer and darling of the music press Mark Ronson, tells Diary: “When it’s quiet, it’s all right. But it’s not ideal. I don’t like listening to pop singers jumping up and down.”
