Green Property Ventures is preparing to sell 7-8 St James’s Square, SW1, in a move that will bring to an end its ownership of a portfolio once owned by fraudster Achilleas Kallakis.
Stephen Vernon and Pat Gunne’s private firm is to sell the asset through CBRE for around £250m, a 3.5-4% yield.
The decision has been triggered by a letting to The Clubhouse, the business club currently located at 11-14 Grafton Street, W1. It is taking 12,760 sq ft on the ground and lower ground floors on a 10-year lease paying a rent of just over £50 per sq ft. The club will open in May.
The deal leaves only one floor available at the 65,534 sq ft building, which achieved a record rent for the West End in April last year when Helly Nahmad Gallery took 2,959 sq ft at £185 per sq ft. Average rents in the building are around £150 per sq ft.
A successful sale would conclude a workout process that commenced in 2008 when Green took on assets from Allied Irish Bank with £750m debt held against them and the portfolio under water at the time.
The portfolio had been previously controlled by Kallakis, who used fake documentation to obtain the loans from AIB.
Green has since asset managed the properties in the portfolio and already sold off the rest of the profit at considerably more than the level of debt held against those assets.
Sales have included 111 Buckingham Palace Road, SW1, to Kennedy Wilson Europe Real Estate for £204.3m; India Buildings in Liverpool to Shelborn Asset Management for £17m; Astral Towers in Crawley to Colony Capital for £20m; Apollo House and Lunar House in Croydon to Harel and Clal for £78m; 35 Berkeley Square, W1, to Wing Tai Pro for £19.6m; and the site of One Nine Elms, SW8, to Dalian Wanda.
Knight Frank and CBRE are letting agents at the building; Summit Property Advisors acted for The Clubhouse.
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