Residential Land, the investment vehicle of entrepreneur Bruce Ritchie, has made its first foray into serviced flats sector with the purchase of Grand Plaza in Bayswater, central London.
Grand Plaza. London flats for rent
Ritchie bought the 205-flat block from a joint venture between Singapore-based serviced residence operator Ascott Group and Bahraini developer Crown Dilmun.
The price is undisclosed, although Ritchie said it is Residential’s largest single-asset purchase.
The property at 42 Princes Square has been valued with vacant possession. However, Ritchie said Residential Land would run it as a fully serviced, short-stay business for the time being, with the aim of generating annual gross.
‘We’ve got our work cut out, but we’re confident we can do it.’ Ritchie’s optimism is based on the high number of enquiries for Residential Land’s large number of conventional flats in Bayswater and the strength of the private rental market in central London.
’We’re turning people away on a daily basis,’ he said. ‘There is a lot of marriage value between what we’re turning away and what we can put in that building.’
Ritchie indicated that in the long term, the 115,000 sq ft ‘trophy asset’ could be converted from short-stay serviced units to conventional flats.
’We’re certainly looking at it and whether it would be worthwhile for Westminster [City Council] to give that consent,’ he said.
Residential Land agreed the Grand Plaza purchase in July and completed it last week. Grand Plaza follows Residential Land’s purchase of Roland House in Kensington from Ascott and Crown Dilmun nearly two years ago.
For flats to rent in London visit http://www.residentialland.com
