New Scotland Yard sold: Met police HQ building goes for estimated £250m
New Scotland Yard, the home of the Metropolitan Police in the heart of London, has been sold for an estimated £250m.
The buyer of the 1.7 acre, 600,000 sq ft site in Victoria will be named once contracts have been exchanged, City Hall said today. Details of the deal, including the purchase price, will be revealed in December.
The sale of the 1960s office block, which went on the market with an asking price of £250m in September, follows an “extremely competitive bidding process”.
It’s a surprise the deal has been agreed so quickly as the sale and completion wasn’t expected until next year at the earliest. 10 Broadway, as the property was marketed, comes with potential for a 690,000 sq ft residential-led development that could be worth £1bn upon completion. The level of excitement around it suggests it attracted a flurry of attention.
The sale represents the best deal for London, said Stephen Greenhalgh, deputy mayor for policing and crime, and the money will be spent on frontline policing in the capital.
Londoners support our plans to put bobbies before buildings and all the proceeds of this sale will be reinvested in frontline policing. Over the coming months we will be able to share these investment plans with Londoners but I’m confident that today’s sale represents the best deal for London.
The sale is part of an overhaul of the Met's portfolio of properties by the Mayor’s office. City Hall has already raised £125m through the sale of 32 premises in London, with a further £125m of properties expected to be sold off this financial year, excluding New Scotland Yard.
The Met will move to a new headquarters at the Curtis Green Building on Victoria Embankment, a move that’s expected to save £6m a year, or the equivalent of 130 bobbies on the beat.