Christian and Nick Candy

Christian Candy (born 31 July 1974, Monaco-based) and Nick Candy (born 23 January 1973, London-based) are British luxury property developers. The brothers are of partial Greek Cypriot descent ^[1] and were estimated to share a joint net worth of £330 million in the Estates Gazette rich list 2010, placing them at position 52 in the list of the richest property developers in the United Kingdom.^[2]

The brothers were educated at Priory Preparatory School in Banstead before being accepted by Epsom College^[3] in Surrey. While Christian was later studying for a business management degree at King's College London, Nick, the older of the two, graduated from University of Reading with a degree in Human Geography.^[4] In 1995, they bought their first property, a one-bedroom flat in Redcliffe Square, Earls Court, London. Using a £6,000 loan from their grandmother, the brothers renovated the £122,000 apartment while living in it. Eighteen months later they sold it for £172,000, making a £50,000 profit.^[5]

In their spare time between 1995 and 1999, the brothers began renovating flats and working their way up the property ladder ^[6] Eventually they were able to give up their day jobs and establish Candy & Candy in 1999, of which Nick is CEO. In 2004, Christian established CPC Group in Guernsey, to specialise in high-end residential developments around the world. Some of their more high-profile developments, however, have been in London.^[7]

Development projects

One Hyde Park

In 2004, the brothers sought an investment partner to help them buy the site of Bowater House in Knightsbridge, with plans to demolish it and construct 86 luxury apartments.^[8] After setting up a joint venture with Waterknights – a private company owned by the Prime Minister of Qatar – they purchased the site from Land Securities in 2005 for a price of £150m.^[9] They then hired the architect Richard Rogers to design the exterior, and used their own Candy & Candy to handle interior design. One Hyde Park: The Residences of Mandarin Oriental, London, was constructed in 4 years after obtaining planning permission in 2006, with the finished development housing 3 retail boutiques: Rolex, McLaren Automotive and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank.^[10] Despite its name, the building’s address is actually located at 68-114 Knightsbridge, London.^[11]

NoHo Square

In 2006, the site of the former Middlesex Hospital was purchased for £175m by Project Abbey (Guernsey) Holdings Ltd – an investment consortium which included Kaupthing Bank, the now defunct Icelandic bank, and was led by the Candy’s CPC Group.^[12] In February, 2007 the brothers applied to the Westminster City Council for planning permission to redevelop the 1.2 hectare (3 acre) site into a mixed use development of several hundred new residential units, and office space.^[13][14] The plans were met with strong criticism from local Fitzrovian residents over the Candy’s choice of NoHo Square as the name for the new development.^[15] Planning permission for NoHo Square was granted in November 2007; however, the completion of demolition of the hospital in 2008 coincided with the collapse of Kaupthing as a result of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis.^[16] Kaupthing was the largest shareholder in the Guernsey-based consortium which bought the Middlesex site from University College Hospital in 2006, and with the bank in administration the NoHo Square development stalled. As a result of CPC Group being partners with Kaupthing in another property development over in the U.S., the Candy brothers were able to transfer their equity stake in NoHo Square to the bank and in exchange take full control of the U.S. development.^[17][18]

Beverly Hills 9900 Wilshire development

In April 2007, the Candy brothers purchased – through CPC Group – an eight-acre site in Beverly Hills known as 9900 Wilshire, with their equity partners Kaupthing for a reported sum of £250m.^[19] CPC Group hired Richard Meier the architect to design a condominium and retail complex in place of the former Robinsons-May department store. The development, expected to commence in early 2008, was essentially a continuation of the project introduced in 2005 by New Pacific Realty, the former owners, and was not without its setbacks. Concerns over increased traffic as a result of construction, along with other issues related to financing, hampered the progress of the project. Victor Bardack of the Beverly Hills North Homeowners Association said: "To put two huge projects on the already-impacted intersection of Santa Monica and Wilshire boulevards is grossly detrimental to the community,[...] It'll be gridlock forever."^[20]

There were also reports of a Jewish organization concerned about the Candy’s associations with Middle Eastern financiers, notably Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, the Prime Minister of Qatar. The controversy stemmed from the fact that the Sheikh is part owner of a Middle Eastern newspaper that the Californians accuse of being anti-Semitic and anti-American.^[21]

Kaupthing being placed into administration at the beginning of October in 2008 left the bank unable to continue financing its share of the project, thus violating the shareholder agreement, of which Christian Candy remarked could "take three to six months just to straighten out the shareholders agreement." CPC Group served a written notice of default on Kaupthing shortly after. In the same month, the situation was made worse when the acquisition loan to the project from Credit Suisse became past due, and, additionally, it became increasingly difficult to get financing on the 250 condominiums that the original plans catered for. This was due to the collapse of the property market and banks pulling their funding.^[22][23] It was later reported that CPC Group – after negotiating full control of the development from Kaupthing – defaulted on a $365.5 million bank loan.^[24][25]

References

External links

• CPC Group
• Candy & Candy Design
• Daily Mail article on Candy brothers' ventures