The proposed sale of the Leicester Square Odeon site is finally going ahead this week after a long-running battle over a ransom strip was resolved.
Estates Gazette revealed last month that the disposal of the site on the southern edge of Leicester Square, WC2, was being hindered as Irish bad bank Nama and the owners of an adjoining strip of land could not agree on a combined sale.
However, this week Allsop, which is acting for Nama, and Tamarin/Real Estate Resolutions, the owners of the ransom strip, have formally put the site up for sale as a single entity.
Tamarin/RER is the vehicle of Irish investor Frank Woods and is managed by former Ballymore director Tim Farrow. The pair bought the 15,000 sq ft strip on the corner of Whitcombe Street and Panton Street for £6m in December last year.
Bidders for the Nama site, which the agency took control of following the collapse of owner Steamboat, had been put off by the exclusion of the Whitcomb Street holding as they said it made the site undevelopable.
Sources said the combined site could fetch between £40m and £100m, compared with around £5m prior to the resolution between the two owners.
Exemplar Properties, which has been tasked with finding London sites for Hard Rock Hotels, is understood to be one of the favourite parties bidding for the site.
Allsop partner Jon Gershinson said: “This will offer a significant opportunity to investors and developers in a premier London location.”
Consent for a 215,000 sq ft Make-designed scheme encompassing the entire site was granted in October 2008. The proposals include a cinema, a 245-bedroom hotel, 33 flats and five restaurants.
Knight Frank and CB Richard Ellis have been appointed selling agents.
samantha.mcclary@estatesgazette.com
