The Wellcome Trust, the world’s biggest research funding charity, is looking to sell a prestigious residential block in Kensington.
Sussex Mansions, SW3 – home to the Christie’s auction rooms – includes 50 flats let on shorthold tenancies and retail on the ground floor.
The block is being offered to the underbidders of a previous sale by Wellcome – the four-block, £75m Knightsbridge Estate – for a sum estimated to be £40m.
Unsuccessful bidders for the mixed-use Knightsbridge Estate, which was sold in October to Brompton Estates, included Asif Aziz’s Golfrate Properties and the enigmatic Barclay brothers.
Other parties that have expressed an interest in the estate include: Middle Eastern investors linked with Brompton Road-based Cheval; Great Portland Estates; the Reuben brothers; Morefield; Benchmark; Dwyer; and London & Paris.
The sale is another step in the trust’s plans to sell off assets that are not suitable for inclusion in the proposed mixed-use property fund of its South Kensington Estate.
It plans to transfer ownership of properties in the area into an investment vehicle in which third parties can invest for the first time.
Peter Pereira Gray, fund manager for Wellcome’s residential and commercial investments, refused to comment on the sale.
References: EGi News 01/12/03
