NoHo Square was the name given to the 95,000 m2 office, residential and commercial complex in Fitzrovia, London which was being developed from the former Middlesex Hospital building. The name Noho was hated by the people living in Fitzrovia and the property development which was not favoured locally was disliked even more because of "that horrible Noho name" for the development the Candy brothers chose.[1][2][3]
Redevelopment was halted by the global financial crisis as an Icelandic bank was the biggest shareholder, but the project has now been taken on by Aviva Investors and Exemplar Properties. The name NoHo Square was unpopular and for now the project is referred to as the "former Middlesex Hospital site".[4]
A Guernsey-based consortium of Kaupthing, the Candy brothers' CPC Group (33%) and Richard Caring (10%) bought the 3-acre (12,000 m2) Middlesex site from University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for £175m in June 2006.[5] The demolition was completed in late 2008.[5] When Kaupthing went into administration, the Candys swapped their stake in NoHo Square for Kaupthing's share of another joint development in Beverley Hills.[5]
The project was being carried out by Ken Shuttleworth's agency 'Make' alongside developers 'Project Abbey', with developers Candy and Candy handling the fit-out.[6]
In March 2009 Kaupthing announced that Stanhope plc would be the new developer and would take a 20% stake backed by Mitsui Fudosan that valued the site at £50m, with Kaupthing retaining an 80% stake.[7] Kaupthing rejected a bid worth £60m bid from Ian and Richard Livingstone’s London & Regional.[7] In March 2010 Kaupthing appointed CB Richard Ellis to sell their remaining stake, with Stanhope reported as interested in acquiring it.[8] Aviva Investors and Exemplar Properties acquired the site in July 2010.[9][10]