Covent Garden sold
London’s landmark Covent Garden market and piazza has been sold for £421m (€624.9m), it was announced today.
The Covent Garden Market Partnership has agreed to sell the seven-acre site to shopping centre owner Capital & Counties, a subsidiary of FTSE-listed property firm Liberty International.
The deal includes the iconic market, as well as properties in Floral Street, James Street, Long Acre, Tavistock Street, Wellington Street and Maiden Lane.
Capital & Counties, which already owned 450,000 square feet of the area, pointed out that a site of this size and quality was seldom available on the open market in London’s West End.
John Saggers, managing director at the firm, said the company decided to bid for the property when it went on the market earlier this year.
He said: “We knew it wouldn’t be cheap, but we saw a lot of potential. It’s not every day an investment opportunity of this scale arises in central London.”
Covent Garden is one of London’s biggest tourist hotspots, attracting one million people every week.
It was put up for sale by the Partnership, which is made up of Henderson Global Investors and Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, following interest from overseas investors.
The deal will include the museum block, home to the London Transport Museum and Theatre Museum, as well as the North West Piazza, with tenants including HMV and French Connection.
Mr Saggers said it was too early to detail the kind of changes the company intended to make to the market, which has 122 tenants.
But he said: “We look forward to working with the Covent Garden Area Trust and other local stakeholders in finding ways to evolve and upgrade the quality, offer and value of the market and piazza, as well as the surrounding streets, for the benefit of everyone.”
Capital runs a string of out-of-town shopping centres, including Lakeside in Thurrock, MetroCentre in Gateshead and The Mall in Bristol.
It also owns a substantial portfolio of property in central London including buildings in Regents Street, The Strand and Piccadilly. The firm used to own King’s Reach Tower.
