ITV picks new buyer for former South Bank home

Lendlease is under offer on ITV’s former South Bank home at the London Television Centre. The firm is understood to have come out on top from a new bidding process for the property after the sale of the 2.5-acre riverfront site to Allied London collapsed earlier this month. The £150m sale of the London Television Centre was launched in January by Knight Frank, after ITV decided against redeveloping the site to create a new studio for itself last year. Instead, ITV decided to stay at Waterhouse Square in Holborn, WC1, and continue to use studios at BBC TV Centre in White City, W12. As part of the sales process, Knight Frank drew up alternative potential plans for the site, which included around 417,000 sq ft of offices and 236,000 sq ft of residential development. It has attracted interest from the likes of Great Portland Estates, Henderson Park, Dartriver, Kirsh Group and CC Land with Native Land. The South Bank has become an investment hotspot in the past couple of years, with almost £1bn invested into the submarket in 2018. This includes Landsec ending its self-imposed acquisition hiatus with the purchase of 25 Lavington Street, SE1, in December, for more than £87m. Most recently, Almacantar decided to put its two commercial office buildings at Southbank Place close to the London Television Centre up for sale for £875m with Cushman & Wakefield, while HB Reavis has submitted plans for its redevelopment of Elizabeth House in Waterloo, and Stanhope and US hedge fund the Baupost Group were chosen as the preferred bidder by Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity to develop a 5.5-acre site in Waterloo.  Lendlease, Knight Frank and ITV all declined to comment. To send feedback, e-mail louise.dransfield@egi.co.uk or tweet @DransfieldL or @estatesgazette