Business
Just under 200 sweating delegates crammed into an airless basement in the Building Centre off Tottenham Court Road on Tuesday morning to hear all about the largest development opportunity in London since the great fire of 1666.
The 480-acre tract in question lies south and west of Vauxhall Bridge. The Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea Opportunity Area, as it is called, is three-quarters the size of the City of London. If only the landowners were as rich. If only it was as easy to reach.
But first, the vision. The Northern line tube will be extended from Kennington down to Battersea Power Station.
A footbridge will connect Nine Elms with richer pastures on the north bank of the river. A great central strip of parkland will skirt a new United States embassy and a rebuilt New Covent Garden market.
There will be a “superhighway” for cyclists, a Thamesside esplanade for pedestrians. There will be 16,000 new homes, millions of square feet of office space, hundreds of new shops and dozens of new restaurants.
Who knows, someone may even plant nine elm trees.
A 362-page document detailing these plans was presented by Sir Simon Milton, deputy Mayor of London. Sir Simon was followed by Wandsworth council leader Edward Lister, who rightly concluded that “the potential here is absolutely enormous”.
Indeed. And so is the potential for absolutely nothing to happen across more than half the site for years to come. The Americans will build their embassy. New Covent Garden may get on with plans due to be unveiled on Monday for a 540,000 sq ft market, a “foodie” centre, and 2000 new homes.
Beyond that, the entire venture rests on raising £400 million-£500 million from local landowners to pay for the extension of the tube. No tube, not much development: especially on the power station site owned by Real Estate Opportunities.
REO has assets of £1.6 billion; assets almost exactly matched by debts. The Irish-owned developer will need at least £1 billion in equity and perhaps the same in debt before it can begin on the £4 billion redevelopment.
Planning director Jeremy Castle says they were “working hard” on the funding. But investor pledges will no doubt be conditional on the tube extension happening. That condition is not entirely in the hands of REO.
A development quango will almost certainly have to be set up to coordinate the cash raising and spending from all the major landowners, including New Covent Garden.
On Tuesday their chairman (sic) Baroness Brenda Dean signalled a strong reluctance to pay.
Boris Johnson gave the project a boost at the meeting by confirming a levy, which developers are normally charged for Crossrail, can go towards the tube. But there will be no public grant. All the cash will have to come from the increase in value of those 480 acres.
That brings huge complications and inevitable delays.
Those in the room on Tuesday will have to sweat for 20 to 25 years for their money rather than 10 years.
No comments:
Post a Comment