Land Secs divests London mixed-use scheme for EUR 280m

UK REIT Land Securities has exchanged contracts to sell its Arundel Great Court mixed-use development site overlooking the Thames for a headline price of £234 mln (EUR 280 mln). The buyer is Waterway PCP Properties, a Dubai-based private equity group fronted by Amanda Staveley.

The 3.3-acre site has planning consent for 147 private apartments, a hotel designed by Horden Cherry Lee and a 398,000 sq ft (40,000 m2) office building designed by Wilkinson Eyre on the Strand.

'We have always been clear we would not take forward every opportunity in our development pipeline,' said Robert Noel, managing director of Land Securities' London portfolio.

He added: 'With a good range of other schemes in construction and planned in London, particularly in the West End, we have to make choices on the right allocation of resources and capital. With better opportunities elsewhere in the portfolio we have decided to release value from the site.'