Former Ballymore director Tim Farrow, with Chinese backing, is in talks to take a major stake in a £600m development on the Isle of Dogs, E14.
Farrow’s Real Estate Resolutions, with finance from a Chinese investor, is eyeing a 50% stake in the vehicle set up to develop the 1.3m sq ft Asda-anchored Crossharbour District Centre scheme.
The deal would be the largest to date for Farrow, who set up RER in 2010 to focus on the redevelopment of prime London sites.
Ashbourne Beech and Asda secured consent from the London borough of Tower Hamlets in October 2012 to transform the 11-acre site into a major mixed-use destination.
The Broadway Malyan-designed scheme includes a 152,000 sq ft supermarket, 158,000 sq ft of shops, 850 homes and a public square.
Several Chinese investors have bought into London regeneration schemes in the past year.
Chinese developer ABP this week submitted its plans for the redevelopment of the 35-acre Royal Albert Dock after signing a £1bn development agreement with London mayor Boris Johnson last summer (p29), while Dalian Wanda Group is planning to invest up to £3bn into British regeneration projects following its debut purchase of One Nine Elms, SW8, in June last year.
Chinese giant Greenland is also seeking further expansion in the UK after buying the £600m Ram Brewery scheme in Wandsworth, SW18, and Hertsmere House in Canary Wharf, E14.
A source said: “Chinese money is astute and quite selective. There is a nervousness from the Chinese about paying over the odds for prime central London trophy assets. That is why they have mainly invested in regeneration schemes.”
RER’s first deal saw the purchase of a 15,000 sq ft plot on the southern edge of Leicester Square, WC2, which formed part of a major redevelopment plan for the Odeon cinema site. That plot, along with the remainder of the site, was later sold to the Radisson Edwardian Group in 2012.
Last year, RER bought the Royal Pharmaceutical Society HQ at 1 Lambeth High Street, SE1, for a 100,000 sq ft residential-led mixed-use scheme.
Farrow spent five years as a director at Ballymore and six years as a board director of Tony Pidgley’s Berkeley Group and as managing director of the group’s St James Homes.
Mason Philips and Savills are advising the Crossharbour District Centre joint venture; CBRE is acting for RER.
annabel.dixon@estatesgazette.com
