New property tax rules will stamp on UK developers April 17, 2012 FEW readers of City A.M. may have lost sleep over the chancellor’s decision in the recent Budget to impose a 15 per cent stamp duty land tax (SDLT) on acquisitions of homes costing over £2m by “non-natural persons”. After all, why shouldn’t we clamp down on the purchase of residential properties through companies, collective investment [...]
Cosmopolis is flawed but compelling June 14, 2012 FILM COSMOPOLIS Cert 15 | By Steve Dinneen **** In the future, nobody will move their face. That is, at least, in David Cronenberg’s dystopian vision, adapted from Don DeLillo’s novel Cosmopolis. Through billionaire finance whiz-kid Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson), Cronenberg seems intent on building an American Psycho for the 21st century, with Pattinson essentially [...]
British Land bags West End development January 11, 2011 BRITISH Land plans to build an 80,000 square foot mixed use building in Marylebone, the firm said yesterday, after buying two properties from the Portman Estate for £18m. The developer will start to demolish the buildings on the corner of Edgware Road and Seymour Street in mid-2011. Last week Westminster Council gave architect Bennetts Associates [...]
A third runway at Heathrow isn’t enough. Let’s allow our regional airports to take off March 12, 2012 A WORLD-CLASS city deserves world-class aviation links. Without them, businesses and jobs will drift away. With its crowded airports, limited long-haul options and unreliable air services, London faces exactly this threat. Something needs to be done. For some, the answer is “Britain needs a bigger hub airport”. This ideology seeks to conflate concern about Britain’s [...]
The economics of the airline industry are sheer hell April 10, 2012 AVIATION has changed massively since the era of Pan Am, a byword for style and sophistication in its 1960s heyday. The once besuited passengers have been replaced by an understandably angry mob, fighting to fit their suitcases into fluorescent-coloured over-head cabins. It is out with the caviar and freshly cooked roast beef and in with [...]
British Land snaps up Plymouth mall January 6, 2011 CARPHONE WAREHOUSE co-founder David Ross started to dismantle his property empire yesterday with the £240m sale of the Drake Circus shopping centre in Plymouth. Ross’ firm Kandahar sold the mall to British Land at a net initial yield of six per cent, the buyer said in a statement yesterday. Kandahar hired property consultants Jones Lang [...]
Strange but good: a slice of Asia in Alicante May 13, 2012 My friend Jo and I did not feel we were en route anywhere nice one recent Friday morning. We were on an EasyJet flight to Alicante, surrounded by stags roaring for more Stella and Jack Daniels. Once in Alicante, a people carrier drove us through a parched landscape that looked a little worse for wear, [...]
FTSE edges up as investors eye US strategy August 31, 2011 The FTSE 100 opened solidly this morning as investors kept their eyes on the situation across the Atlantic with hopes still alive that the US Federal Reserve will trigger stimulus measures to boost the struggling economy. US stocks rose for a third straight day yesterday in a volatile session, after minutes from the latest Federal [...]
FTSE edges up as investors eye US strategy August 31, 2011 The FTSE 100 opened solidly this morning as investors kept their eyes on the situation across the Atlantic with hopes still alive that the US Federal Reserve will trigger stimulus measures to boost the struggling economy. US stocks rose for a third straight day yesterday in a volatile session, after minutes from the latest Federal [...]
Ritblat nears Plantation Place takeover September 4, 2011 DELANCEY Estates, the investment vehicle led by Jamie Ritblat, is poised to take control of Plantation Place, one of the largest buildings in the City of London, in a deal valuing the property at £500m. Delancey, which is backed by George Soros’s Quantum fund, is understood to be in exclusive talks to buy the 550,000 [...]