Beetham teams up with partner for £1bn project

Jun 18 2008 by Barry Turnbull, Liverpool Daily Post

Beetham teams up with partner for £1bn project

LIVERPOOL developer Beetham has teamed up with a Russian billionaire to create a skyscraper on the banks of the River Thames.

Sergei Polonsky's Mirax Group is to invest a 50% stake in the £1bn mixed- use tower at Black- friars Bridge, facing St Paul's Cathedral.

The Ian Simpson designed high-rise will be 52 storeys and cover an area of 100,000 sq metres with development costs of £500m and a final market value of £1bn. “We expect fast payback on this project”, said Mirax director Maxim Temniko.

“We have already signed a tenancy contract for the hotel part of the building with Jumeirah, the luxury hotel group, and according to our estimates the price of apartments with wonderful views of London’s historical centre will be at least £30,000 per square metre”.

Besides the hotel, which will occupy 35,000 sq metres and 96 apartments, the multifunctional complex will host shops, restaurants, exhibition spaces and a public plaza featuring a trade and entertainment centre.

Stephen Beetham said: "We were looking for a partner because this is a £1bn devel- opment. The previous largest development we had comp-leted was our Manchester tower worth £125m and although this is the same height, construction costs in London are so much more.

"Because of that we decided to find a partner and as soon as I met Sergei I knew we had so much in common. Beetham has never sold a project ahead of completion and Mirax have given us that guarantee."

Beetham is 33 and Polon- sky, at 36, holds 85% of the shares in Mirax which has a £5bn global development programme. The top half of the building will be luxury apartments while the bottom part will contain the hotel and shops. News of the deal represents a fillip for the depressed property industry.

barryturnbull