Singapore developer buys ‘blank canvas’ in big east London site
By Kate Allen
Financial Times
www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/053f74ee-42f9-11...roduct#axzz2jTdP66Py
London’s largest development site to come to market this year has been sold to a Singapore investor, which intends to create “an entirely new district” housing 10,000 people on the site in east London’s docklands.
Royal Wharf was sold on Friday by Ballymore to Oxley Holdings Ltd, a Singapore-listed property developer, for what people familiar with the deal say was about £200m.
The developer plans to build 3,400 homes as well as commercial, retail, leisure and education facilities on the 40-acre site, which agent Knight Frank said was the largest development opportunity to come on to the market since Battersea Power Station last year. It already has planning permission.
Ching Chiat Kwong, Oxley’s chief executive, said that the proximity of Crossrail, London’s first new underground line in 30 years, was a factor in the company’s decision to acquire the site. The Custom House Crossrail station will be 1km away.
“Royal Wharf . . . offers a blank canvas,” he said. “Oxley will create a vibrant district.” Oxley has developed a series of residential, commercial and industrial projects in Singapore, China, Malaysia and Cambodia, but this is its first UK scheme.
The eastern docklands area, one of the most rundown parts of the capital, is set to be transformed in the coming decade. Chinese developers are building a £1bn office complex at the Royal Albert Dock, while the £1.5bn redevelopment of Silvertown Quays involves 1,500 new homes being built as well as retail and business incubation space.
London mayor Boris Johnson lobbied Oxley to take up the site on his trade mission to China last month. He said: “This type of deal is exactly why I spent six days meeting businessmen and officials in China banging the drum for the capital and it is further evidence of the colossal appetite of developers from the Far East and elsewhere to invest in London.”
Alan Selby from agent Alan Selby & Partners, who acted for Ballymore, said: “The interest generated on such a large site confirms that east London is fast becoming a location for international developers.”
Charlie Hart, a partner at estate agent Knight Frank who also acted for Ballymore, added: “Interest for this opportunity was very strong from both the UK and overseas.”