Frasers Property is planning a 22-storey tower in the Aldgate East cluster on Whitechapel High Street, E1. Plans are currently at the consultation phase and an application is expected in early 2017.
Frasers Property acquired the site for £50m in March 2016 from London Metropolitan University, which is relocating from east London to the university’s main base on Holloway Road, Islington, N7. The sale of Central House, which was home to the Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design, proved controversial, with many high-profile campaigners against the plans, including Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota, architects Lord Rogers and David Chipperfield, and artist Anish Kappor.
Cushman & Wakefield acted on behalf of the seller last year seeking offers of £37.5m, with the eventual sale going for much more. Therefore the cash receipt for the site, in this highly regenerating area was just too much to resist.
As part of the deal, the university will still occupy the site, but will vacate the building in August 2017. Frasers is behind Vauxhall Sky Gardens, SW8, and the Riverside Quarter, SW18 and mainly develops residential schemes. Here, however, it is proposing an office and hotel scheme, which could signal a top of the market for more fringe locations, not just prime central London.
233,000 sq ft of new office space is planned, with floors that can easily be subdivided into smaller working environments which appeal to small and medium sized enterprises. A 200-bedroom hotel, 10,000 sq ft of shops and 4,000 sq ft of community uses are also proposed. Arney Fender Katsalidis is the architect.
