Olympic legacy chiefs have offered up two major development opportunities six years ahead of schedule on the back of booming international demand for London property.
The London Legacy Development Corporation has today launched a global search for developers and investors to bring forward the next two neighbourhoods in the 500-acre Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
Chief executive Dennis Hone said he wanted a partner or consortium to develop “the next great London estate”.
“The planets are starting to align in the property market and in terms of sentiment towards east London,” he said.
“The bidders need to want to be long-term players. If they want in and out in 10 years, that is not going to work.”
The East Wick and Sweetwater neighbourhoods were originally scheduled for delivery by 2029, but are now targeted for completion by 2023.
They have consent for 1,500 homes and 145,000 sq ft of shops and commercial space. Hone said a substantial number of the homes should be for the private rented sector.
He added that there was room to increase housing and employment space by building upwards or bringing in extra land from an area known as the Crescent, which fronts the North Park.
Bids are due by January, with the target of appointing a partner by autumn 2014 and work beginning on the neighbourhoods in early 2016.
International investors have been snapping up major London development opportunities in recent years on the back of the capital’s safe-haven status.
In 2011 Qatari Diar and Delancey pipped the Wellcome Trust and Hutchison Whampoa to buy the 1,439 private homes within the former Athletes Village with a £557m bid.
Malaysians EPF, SP Setia and Sime Darby beat 15 bids from around the world to buy Battersea Power Station in 2012 while Chinese developer ABP signed a £1bn debut deal in June to redevelop east London’s Royal Albert Dock. All are expected to show interest in these sites.
Hone said: “If the government just told me to maximise receipts from the park, I would sell off everything in a series, putting in no affordable housing and sticking a supermarket on every corner. But we are a regeneration organisation and want to meet housing need and bring forward employment opportunities.”
“We want more than just a nod to the great London estates with their juxtaposition between parkland and property.”
Deloitte Real Estate is advising.
nick.whitten@estatesgazette.com
