This Week's London Deal Sheet
London's Natural History Museum and its grounds will undergo a multimillion-pound redevelopment. The landscaping will start in 2017 and span three years.
Museum officials say the gardens will reflect science themes of evolution, biodiversity and sustainability. And the most famous resident, “Dippy” the Diplodocus, will get a new position. The replica skeleton will be remade in bronze to help it survive the elements.
EXECS
Suzanne Singleton will be taking over as head of associations at London & Partners. Suzanne, who leaves her role as MICE Account Director at The Grove, in Hertfordshire, will take up her new position on 19 September.
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Carter Jonas appointed Adam Harman partner within its planning and development team. Adam will be based out of Carter Jonas’ head office in London.
James Mohammed (above) joined Allsop as an associate in the Residential Investment and Development team in Leeds, where he will advise on the sale, acquisition and consultancy of development opportunities in the Midlands and the North of England.
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Cushman & Wakefield’s co-chair of EMEA logistics and industrial, Mark Webster, is leaving the firm to join Dowley Turner Real Estate.
LEASES
Norton Clothing has chosen 47 Beak St in Soho as the location for its first UK store. The label leased 2k SF across the ground floor and basement unit.
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Durlings arranged the letting of The Clock House to SeaSalt Cornwall on behalf of the landlord of this High Street building. The Cornish fashion chain will soon open its latest outlet in Tunbridge Wells. The period building, which dates from circa 1850, is distinguished by its large turret clock.
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Intu signed up Barcelona-based car brand SEAT’s first shopping centre retail store, which will combine showrooming and digital technology to drive brand awareness.
SALES
CBRE Global Investors sold Willenhall Industrial Estate to BA Pension Fund in partnership with Canmoor for £18.7M. Willenhall Industrial Estate offers about 400k SF and is let to multiple tenants. Knight Frank repped CBRE Global Investors, CBRE repped BA Pension Fund and Canmoor.
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BlackRock exchanged contracts to sell Sony Computer Entertainment’s headquarters at 10-12 Great Marlborough St to Qatari investor Alduwaliya in a deal worth around £105M—a 4.5% yield.
DEVELOPMENT
Plans have been submitted to reconfigure The London Hilton at 22 Park Lane. Up to 28 residential units, 29 serviced apartments, a triple height ballroom and three new basement levels will be added.
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The redevelopment of Dora House on St. John's Road will provide two buildings that combined will provide 200 units—139 affordable housing, 61 private.
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Developer Chapman Taylor is building a new Holiday Inn Express at Trafford City that will be comprised of shipping containers and have 220 bedrooms.
THIS AND THAT
Bespoke Hotels reached an agreement with Criterion Capital to operate a number of hotels across London. The inaugural property will be the 86-bedroom upscale boutique MGallery hotel in London’s Leicester Square, set to open later this year as part of a deal with brand owner AccorHotels. This will be followed by further sites in Leicester Square, Piccadilly and Greenwich, scheduled to open in Q4 2016 and throughout 2017.
