Crown Estate unveils its £300m redevelopment
The Crown Estate today unveiled its £300m redevelopment of Regent Palace Hotel, just behind Piccadilly Circus in London’s West End, into luxury offices and shops.
The Queen’s property company said it has signed its first office tenant, the fund manager Generation, co-founded by former US Vice President Al Gore, to its 200,000 square feet of office space.
Organic food retailer Whole Foods has also agreed to open a 17,000 square ft store next year while fashion house Coach and menswear brands Jack Spade and Wolsey are also understood to be close to signing leases.
The Regent Palace site forms part of the Crown Estate’s Quadrant development, an ambitious £1bn scheme to revitalise and open up the south end of Regent Street.
“[Quadrant 3] delivers a wholesale transformation to this prominent part of the West End. It is the largest and most ambitious scheme we have ever undertaken”, Roger Bright, the Crown Estate’s outgoing chief executive said.
The Quadrant development will also see the historic Cafe Royal on Regent Street transformed into a 160-bedroom five-star hotel, due to be completed in time for London’s 2012 Olympics.