The Queen’s property company, the Crown Estate, has announced plans for a £320 million joint venture with one of Canada’s largest pension funds.
Oxford Properties, a division of Omers, the Ontario metropolitan employees’ retirement fund, is taking a 50 percent share with Crown Estate in the redevelopment of two West End blocks running between Regent Street and Haymarket. The area will be known as St. James’s Market.
The scheme is the third large deal that the Crown Estate has entered into with outside investors to develop its holdings in central London.
It has also entered into a partnership with Norges Bank Investment Management for a good portion of Regent Street and another with the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan for the £100 million Gateway development which is also located in St. James’s. The latter project is scheduled for completion next month.
The Crown Estate will be the development manager on the St. James’s Market project which will feature 210,000 sq ft of office space, 50,000 sq ft of retail space and a 10,000 sq ft public square.
This deal is the latest foray of Canadian pension funds into the UK commercial property market. Along with investing in the Cheesegrater building, Oxford Properties has also bought two buildings in Paternoster Square.
The fund paid £235 million for the London Stock Exchange building at King Edward Court and £110 million for St. Martin’s Court.
In addition the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board had entered into a partnership with Land Securities on the Victoria Circle scheme.
Mat Oakley, the head of commercial research at Savills said; “The Canadians have been a major player in the global investment market, driven in part by the strength of their domestic economy through the global downturn.
“Now you would put them in the world’s top five or six most active cross-border buyers, which is amazing compared to where they were 10 years ago. They’ve probably spent close to £40 billion outside Canada.”
Last year the Crown Estate, which is midway through a ten year project to redevelop St James’s, made a profit of £240 million for the Treasury.
Previous Post
Who Still Pays for their Shopping with Cash?
