Builders merchant Travis Perkins is gearing up for a battle with Camden council after a for sale sign was hoisted above one of its best-performing stores.
Camden wants to sell the West Hampstead, NW6, plot which houses a 17,000 sq ft Travis Perkins, for residential redevelopment. It is offering it with vacant possession from December 2016.
The sale was launched just months after Travis Perkins extended its lease on the ?site, which it has occupied for more than 35 years, to December 2019.
Travis Perkins plans to contest any attempt to break its lease early. The company has also launched its own search for a joint venture partner to redevelop the site through agent Coombe Property Services.
Travis Perkins group property director, Martin Meech, said: “We are not denying that the site could be redeveloped for a number of different uses, but Camden council is failing to recognise the importance of its own planning policies.”
The authority’s local plans calls for employment uses to be retained across the borough.
Camden said: “The council owns the freehold of this site and has been in discussion with Travis Perkins since at least 2009 about the future sale. The lease was recently renewed until 2019 subject to a break provision which means that the ?lease could be ended as of December 2016.”
Bids are due next week.Deloitte is advising Camden.
chris.berkin@estatesgazette.com
