University College London is under offer to buy a prominent, 42,000 sq ft King’s Cross Block, WC1, from Camden council.
The world-famous university has agreed to buy 1960s office block Bidborough House for circa £25m, Estates Gazette understands.
Bidborough House – which is being sold with vacant possession on completion of the deal – has scope for an office refurbishment, as well as a residential redevelopment.
Camden council appointed Lambert Smith Hampton to sell the asset in July . It is one of the circa 1,000 properties the local authority is keen to sell to remove surplus space and generate cash ahead of its move to a new headquarters at King’s Cross Central, N1, in 2014.
It wants to raise £300m to invest in the community by 2025.
According to research from the London School of Economics estates division and the Higher Education Design Quality Forum, 86% of students said estate quality was quite, or very, important in their first year of studies.
All parties declined to comment on the deal.
joanna.bourke@estatesgazette.com
