In light of current developments, we now think it prudent to look again at the feasibility and potential for the BPS site to be developed for a football stadium.

But don't hold your breath. Currently, the club can't sell up, because they don't own the freehold at Stamford Bridge, and Real Estate Opportunities, notional owners of the Battersea site, is £300m in debt and could lose the keys to the power station at any time.

Battersea Power Station - there's a "latest" [November 12, 2010]
Battersea Power Station saga latest [June 24, 2010]

Technorati Tags: property, real estate

Buying into new build is as risky as ever, but there are places, according to new research by Knight Frank, where you stand a greater than average chance of making a return on your investment. Nine Elms, in Wandsworth, is forecast growth of as much as 140%, as the area gets set for the opening of the new US embassy in 2017. Go here for a fun and effective interactive map.

Technorati Tags: property, real estate

Wandsworth's three hotspots, according to the Telegraph:

These are the Nightingale Triangle, a trendy pocket of cottages and terraced houses near Balham and Clapham South tube stations; the so-called Toast Rack – a cluster of larger Victorian and Georgian houses located near the restaurant Chez Bruce, where a young Gordon Ramsay honed his skills; or The Tonsleys, an area of smaller houses close to Wandsworth Town train station. The last of these is where BBC One’s hit comedy Outnumbered is filmed.

And prices are - according to the piece - rising at particularly alarming rates, leaving anyone renting in the borough with the idea of swooping on a family home as soon as it hits the market  in a very expensive position.

Technorati Tags: property, real estate

New Covent Market, a 57-acre site in Wandsworth's Nine Elms Opportunity Area is - according to the BBC - among a number of public areas due to be handed to developers in a build-now, pay-later deal by the Government, aimed at meeting housing need. More here.

Technorati Tags: property, real estate

Crikey, it's been there less than six years, but Vauxhall's "ski jump" bus station could face demolition, in a plan to build two 40-storey skyscrapers, including a hotel, offices and residential accommodation. More here.

[image by Malc McDonald]

Technorati Tags: property, real estate

Battersea Power Station's long and tortuous recent history of development ambition and development setback starts a new chapter with news that Irish owners Real Estate Opportunities is looking to raise cash for the development by floating the project on the Alternative Investment Market. They also want a new partner, to share the project 50-50. The firm has taken an inevitable kicking recently, with the disaster that is the Irish property market. But even before then, the Battersea Power Station has been one long tale of woe as expensive and ambitious plans have been shelved, and the iconic London landmark has been left to crumble. More here. Plus some recent history.

Technorati Tags: architecture, development, London, property, real estate

Liam Bailey, of Knight Frank, tells the Times today that a view of the Thames will add 18-to-25% to the value of a London property. He calls London's waterfront homes a "unique London sub-market" and (this is the interesting bit) it's a market that moves separately from the rest. So, between March 2004 and March 2005, waterfront property values grew at 3.8% (against 0.9% "inland"). And if the waterfront location is in an otherwise fairly modest neighbourhood (step forward Vauxhall), the price differential is even greater. Read the full story here.