The London Underground Property Partnership (LUPP) has been effectively scrapped after more than two years of negotiations.
Although London Underground has said that the LUPP will not be abandoned, the property assets will be transferred to Ken Livingstone’s Transport for London (TfL) to be sold individually.
Under the original LUPP proposals a portfolio of 50 surplus properties, with a development value of £2bn, would have been transferred to Land Securities or Chelsfield, the final shortlisted bidders, and development profits shared over 20 years. The two companies have been negotiating with LU for over two years and have spent millions of pounds on preparing bids.
However, Livingstone plans to release the properties from TfL on a site-by-site basis to developers selected through competitive tender, killing off LUPP in its original form.
A spokesman for TfL said today: “The London Transport property portfolio will be handed over to TfL when the other Tube deals go ahead. The properties will then be sold off and developed on a case-by-case basis, instead of the original plan of handing it over as one big chunk.”
LU’s board met last October to select the winner for the project, London Underground Property Partnership (LUPP), but the decision was delayed at the last minute, prompting rumours that the LUPP had been abandoned.
EGi News 07/01/02
