Stanhope is to lose out on an estimated £50m development profit after Selfridges dropped plans for a £300m redevelopment of its Oxford Street site.
The retailer, which last year was taken private by Canadian billionaire Galen Weston, said this week it had withdrawn its planning application for a scheme providing a 100,000 sq ft extension of the 500,000 sq ft store as well as 300,000 sq ft of offices and a hotel.
Sir Stuart Lipton’s development company was selected ahead of rival British Land in 2000. Stanhope said it would lose £50m. It would have received a 175-year lease on the non-retail element in return for funding the development
But when Selfridges was taken over last year, Weston sat on the application as he reviewed the retailer’s strategy. This led to Selfridges scrapping plans to open stores in Bristol, Newcastle and Leeds, and it is now also unlikely that it will develop its site in Glasgow.
“The new owners are retailers, not property people, and they have different criteria,” said a Selfridges spokesman.
