Luxury residential developer Native Land is the frontrunner to buy the 1.4m sq ft Bankside development scheme, SE1, for around £325m.
An Asian consortium, fronted by Native Land, is understood to have been selected as preferred bidder to purchase the 5.3-acre South Bank site from Carlyle Group.
The site has planning consent for a 489-home riverside development, comprising nine new buildings of between five and 48 storeys and 35,000 sq ft of new public space.
Plans involve the demolition of the current Ludgate House office building, once it has secured vacant possession in March 2015.
Construction of the next phase will start once there is vacant possession of the Sampson House site in June 2018.
It would be Native Land’s latest scheme on the South Bank after last month it teamed up with Singapore-listed Hwa Hong Corporation to buy 15,000 sq ft of shops at NEO Bankside. It already has another scheme on the same site.
Carlyle bought Ludgate House, Sampson House and Alban Gate, part of the White Tower Portfolio, from Simon Halabi’s collapsed property empire. The US private equity investor paid £671m in June 2010 for Alban Gate in the City of London and the five-asset Thames portfolio — including Ludgate House and Sampson House.
Knight Frank is advising Carlyle.
All parties decline to comment.
joanna.bourke@estatesgazette.com
