Lord Heseltine’s Haymarket is to sell its famous Teddington Studios to a listed Singapore developer.
City Developments, chaired by billionaire Kwek Leng Beng, has exchanged contracts to buy the 4.5-acre site in Middlesex for around £80m.
It is working in partnership with Chelsea-based Dartmouth Capital Advisors.
Teddington Studios has planning consent for a £250m TP Bennett-designed 224,211 sq ft scheme comprising 213 flats and six houses.
Richmond estate agent Featherstone Leigh said residential values in the area were £750 per sq ft, but that values at the project would be more than £1,000 per sq ft.
Publishing giant Haymarket has been at the site for 40 years.
The sale is part of the company’s property strategy, launched in 2013, which has seen it consolidate its offices and consider options for a new HQ.
Its main West London office at 174 Hammersmith Road, W6, was sold to Kier in 2013 and Haymarket has also vacated other buildings in the area.
All Haymarket UK staff are now based in Teddington.
Haymarket chief executive Kevin Costello said: “We are currently assessing all our options for a move but we are wedded to staying in the borough.”
He added that the firm, advised by Colliers International, will find a new home by the end of 2015.
Teddington Studios has long been at the heart of the UK entertainment industry, with TV programmes such as Birds of a Feather and The Office filmed there.
Savills is advising on the Teddington sale.
