As a host of Diplomatic Embassies sell up their grand premises, the smartest streets of central London are being redesigned. As embassies relocate further afield, prime Mayfair and Kensington addresses are on the market, a trend that real estate agents claim may be a model for other major world cities.
In 2006, the American Embassy was sold to Qatari Diar for a rumored £500 million as the diplomatic mission announced plans to move south of the Thames to a purpose-built site near Battersea Power Station in Nine Elms. More recently, Savills sold the Canadian Embassy at 1 Grosvenor Square Mayfair to India's Lodha Group for £306 million in 2013. Both structures will be transformed into high-end luxury apartments. for sale qatar
The Brazilian Embassy in Green Street Mayfair, the Dutch Embassy near The Albert Hall in Kensington, and the Montserrat Consulate in Marylebone's Portland Place were among the diplomatic properties sold in London in recent years. The Dutch have declared that they would pursue the Americans to Nine Elms, while the Canadians have decided to concentrate their personnel at Canada House in Trafalgar Square.
Security concerns, historic listed properties that can be difficult to upgrade, and emerging technologies have all been cited as factors for the sale, but Andrew Langton, Chairman of Aylesford International, an elite London estate agency, claims there is also a desire to profit from the booming London property market.
"With the recent sales of the American and Canadian embassies, two of London's finest buildings in the finest streets are now open for conversion into residential land," says Langton. "In today's economy, many of the capital's embassies are hard to justify holding, and this trend may be replicated not only across London, but also in cities like Paris and New York."
Since the selling of land around the Australian embassy in Tokyo in 1988, the monetary value of embassies has been a topic of discussion. The selling, which occurred during the peak of the Japanese property bubble, was said to have allowed the Australians to pay off a significant portion of their national debt.
The UK's embassy in Paris is a 200-year-old palatial residence close to the Elysee Palace in the prestigious 1st arrondissement, where the government this year proposed the Queen save money by cutting back on maintenance of Buckingham Palace.
"The British Embassy in Rue d'Anjou is probably the grandest and finest residence in the entire city of Paris," Langton observes. "The UK embassy in Tehran is said to be one of the world's largest properties in any area. If diplomatic relations are restored, this property can undoubtedly be sold to make room for more useful offices."
Langton has previously been involved in talks with many possible embassy relocations, including the Iranians on their Queens Gate embassy and the Israelis on their Kensington Palace Gardens position. He claims that cities should emulate a campus of embassies with excellent security.
"Embassies want efficient office space with a high level of protection," he says, "not grand, draughty old buildings that might have represented a place of world supremacy in a bygone era." " They will increasingly look elsewhere as the residential value of their properties rises."
According to a November 2013 survey conducted by estate agents Wetherell and Diplomatic magazine, at least 20 of London's 165 diplomatic missions had either sold or explored the prospect of sale since June 2013. According to the survey, at least five of the 16 embassies and ambassadorial residences in Kensington Park Gardens, also known as Billionaire Row, are for sale.
"After the war, most Embassies were located in Kensington Palace Gardens," says Langton. "At least four of these structures were occupied by the Russians for their embassy, ambassador, and consulates. Two of the buildings have been sold, and facilities are now concentrated in the remaining two."
According to Langton, the Nepalese Embassy in Kensington Park Gardens is worth at least $100 million.