St Modwen and Vinci have fired the starting gun on the sale of their prized New Covent Garden Market site in Nine Elms, SW8.
They have appointed JLL to sell their Nine Elms Square site at the project, which has consent for 1,821 flats and was valued at £616m as of 30 November 2015.
St Modwen reported a revaluation downwards across the whole of its ownership at New Covent Garden Market of £21m at the end of May – including an additional 8.5 acre site.
That means the book value of the Nine Elms Square site is likely to be closer to £600m.
A spokesman for the company said: “We can confirm that we are currently marketing for sale the 10 acre Nine Elms Square site at New Covent Garden Market.
“This is in line with our previously stated intention to explore our options to sell by the end of 2016.”
From November 2014: New Covent Garden Market granted planning
When it published its annual results in February, St Modwen said it was considering a sale, a joint venture or development of the site at some point this year.
The sale will be a crucial test of the Nine Elms market, which has been dogged with concerns of oversupply in the past year. Despite this, Nine Elms Square is one of the last waterfront sites to be built out and will be in a prime position next to the new US Embassy.
The sale comes ahead of a change at the helm of St Modwen, with chief executive Bill Oliver due to step down in November after 13 years at the helm. He is to be replaced by Mark Allan, who is leaving the same position at Unite.
