Fitzroy Place

Fitzroy Place is a 95,000 m2 office, residential and commercial complex in Fitzrovia, London which is being developed from the former Middlesex Hospital building site.

It was originally to be known as Noho Square. The development was not favoured locally, and was disliked even more because of "that horrible Noho name" chosen by the Candy brothers for the development.[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. As the name NoHo Square was unpopular, the project became known as the "former Middlesex Hospital site" and more recently as Fitzroy Place.[4]

History

A Guernsey-based consortium of the Icelandic Kaupthing Bank, 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 Properties.[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] The consortium appointed architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands and Sheppard Robson to design a new masterplan with luxury residential and office buildings. The scheme was granted planning in March 2012.

Fitzroy Place is now well under construction and due for completion in early 2015.

References

  1. ↑ Anna Davis, Noho? No way, this is Fitzrovia, Evening Standard, 6 March 2008. Accessed 23 September 2010.
  2. ↑ Jamie Welham, It’s no to Noho: Controversial plans for hospital may torn up as new developer moves in, Camden New Journal, 26 March 2009. Accessed 23 September 2010.
  3. ↑ Andy Dangerfield, Historic London districts 'rebranded' Midtown, BBC News, London. Accessed 23 September 2010.
  4. ↑ Stanhope dumps Noho and courts Fitzrovia Gardeners, Fitzrovia News, 2 December 2009. Accessed 23 September 2010.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "NoHo Square deal in ruins". West End Extra. Retrieved 2010-09-14.
  6. ↑ "Make is quick to win approval for central London's Middlesex Hospital". Architects Journal. Retrieved 2009-07-16.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Doyle, David (23 March 2009), "Stanhope wins the battle for Middlesex Hospital site", Property Week
  8. ↑ Rigby, Jennifer (3 March 2010), Former Middlesex hospital site in London back on market
  9. ↑ Hipwell, Deirdre (18 July 2010), "Aviva wins Noho Square scheme", Independent on Sunday
  10. ↑ Exemplar Properties website

Coordinates: 51°31′08″N 0°08′16″W / 51.5190°N 0.1379°W

External links