Sale of former ITV home to Allied London falls apart

Allied London’s £150m-plus acquisition of the former home of ITV is understood to have collapsed. The firm went under offer on the 2.5-acre site in April, which would have been its biggest development project in London for more than a decade. Knight Frank launched the sale of the London Television Centre in January. It attracted interest from the likes of Great Portland Estates, Henderson Park, Dartriver, Kirsh Group and CC Land with Native Land. The site has consented plans for a scheme that included new studio space for ITV. But last year it scrapped those plans and said it will 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. The news follows the collapse of Great Portland Estates’ purchase of the BT Centre in the City of London last week. The South Bank has become an investment hotspot in the past couple of years, with almost £1bn invested in to 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 near 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. Allied London and Knight Frank declined to comment. ITV also declined to comment. To send feedback, e-mail louise.dransfield@egi.co.uk or tweet @DransfieldL or @estatesgazette