Residential investor Marcus Cooper has this week submitted plans to turn home shopping channel QVC’s UK HQ into a £500m residential-led scheme.
St John’s Wood-based Marcus Cooper Group plans to demolish Marco Polo House, next door to Battersea Power Station, SW8, and redevelop it as a 600,000 sq ft mixed-use scheme (pictured above).
The development will comprise 456 one- to three-bedroom flats, 15,000 sq ft of shops and workspace and 213 car parking spaces.
Work on the Scott Brownrigg-designed project is expected to begin next year when QVC moves out of its headquarters and relocates to a bespoke 140,000 sq ft office at Chiswick Park, W4.
A spokesman for Marcus Cooper Group said its plans for the 3.1-acre site formed part of the wider regeneration of the 450-acre Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea Opportunity Area, which will see as many as 16,000 homes built in the area.
Marcus Cooper Group bought Marco Polo House for £63m in 2006.
The investor is well-known for buying residential development opportunities and turning them into multi-million-pound projects. One of his most high-profile deals was the £50m acquisition of British Land’s former HQ on Cornwall Terrace, NW1, which is being converted back into residential.
Cooper sold Cornwall Terrace to Oakmayne Properties for €134.5m.
Last year, the investor was also granted consent to turn 6-10 Cambridge Terrace and 1-2 Chester Gate, NW1, into a £100m mega-mansion. The property was bought for £23.7m in 2007.
More recently, Marcus Cooper Group paid Royal Bank of Scotland close to £100m for a portfolio of three Hilton hotels.
noella.pio.kivlehan@estatesgazette.com
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