Romford regeneration hits the market
A former retail park with consent for 448 homes in Romford, east London, has hit the market with a price tag of £35m.
The mixed-use scheme comprises two main parcels of land, Angel Way and North Street, spanning 2.8 acres in the town centre. It includes permission for a 63-bedroom hotel and ground-floor retail space.
Development has been a long time in the making, with initial plans for the £100m redevelopment of Angel Way Retail Park launched by developer Zog Group in 2007. The group’s SPV Zog Romford went into administration in 2013, went to Nama and was later purchased by private investor Regency Homes.
A former retail park with consent for 448 homes in Romford, east London, has hit the market with a price tag of £35m.
The mixed-use scheme comprises two main parcels of land, Angel Way and North Street, spanning 2.8 acres in the town centre. It includes permission for a 63-bedroom hotel and ground-floor retail space.
Development has been a long time in the making, with initial plans for the £100m redevelopment of Angel Way Retail Park launched by developer Zog Group in 2007. The group’s SPV Zog Romford went into administration in 2013, went to Nama and was later purchased by private investor Regency Homes.
The plans for Angel Way have changed very little since the initial masterplan, proposing 350 homes and the hotel in buildings of up to 16 storeys on the 2.4-acre site. The scheme comprises 9% affordable housing (31 homes) with no CIL contribution.
A detailed planning application was refused by Havering Council in 2009, despite reports of local support for the scheme, and then later approved at appeal.
To the eastern side of the site, a further 98 homes have been approved for North Street. Consent was secured by Regency Homes at the end of last year, again at appeal. It includes 20 affordable homes and £1.36m owed in CIL. The 0.4-acre parcel is largely vacant, with a part-built concrete frame, completed up to the fourth level.
Angel Way and North Street are located 0.3 miles to the north of Romford station, which benefits from services to London’s Stratford and Liverpool Street stations.
Ed de Jonge, director at Savills, said: “It is a highly visible site in a very central location within Romford that has been a bit of an eyesore for over a decade. Hopefully, this is an opportunity for someone to take the site forward and deliver it. We have had interest from housebuilders, build-to-rent funds and private equity.”
At the nearby former Romford Ice Rink, Impact Capital Group is planning 1,010 homes at the £400m Rom Valley Gardens. The scheme is a mile to the south of Angel Way, outside the A125 ring road.
Savills and Countrywide are advising the vendors. Offers are being invited on an unconditional basis for the freehold for the site as a whole, or alternatively Angel Way or North Street separately. The bid deadline is 21 July.
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Photo by GML Architects
