Capco Sells Wellington Block, Covent Garden London, for £76.5m

Main Photo: The Harrington Hall Hotel, Portfolio’s first deal

Date: September  2020

Location: Covent Garden, London, England, UK

Name: Wellington Block…to be renamed

No. of Keys: 146

Seller: Capco sells Wellington Block for £76.5m, comprising six properties in Covent Garden, in the centre of London. Capco’s original plan was for a 83 rooms hotel in partnership with BD Hotels of America, and included the actor Robert De Niro…who did partner up with BD on The Greenwich Hotel in New York.

Capital and Counties Properties (Capco) sadly fell foul of it’s ambitious plans to develop the iconic Earls Court exhibition halls and ended up selling that site to to investors APG and Delancey, for £425m, despite the masterplan site being valued at £759m, in November 2019, albeit that the redevelopment was originally valued at in December 2015, when it was estimated to be worth £1.4bn.

Buyer: The site will be redeveloped by The Portfolio Club, a JV between APG and London Central Portfolio. The buyer is planning to roll out a new lifestyle brand of Residents’ Clubs. 

The Wellington Block is a freehold island site located on the south east corner of Covent Garden comprising six separate properties. Planning consent has recently been granted to develop a 146-room hotel with retail and restaurant space.

The buildings span 66,000 sq ft rising to 100,000 sq ft once the new hotel is built. Vacant possession of the property has been secured over the majority of the site and the ERV of the properties as at 30 June 2020 was £4.2m.

The Portfolio Club plans to use the site for its new brand of “flexible stay, all-suite hotels”.
Naomi Heaton, chief executive of The Portfolio Club, said: “This will be a cornerstone of our new lifestyle brand of Residents’ Clubs to be rolled out in prime central London neighbourhoods and internationally, following the acquisition last year of the Harrington Hall Hotel in South Kensington by the joint venture partnership between LCP and APG.”

THPT Comment: Great deal for the partners behind the Portfolio Club, with this their second venue in London.

First Seen: Estates Gazette

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