Words: Ashley Rigg
Published: 10th March 2011
*Developer makes £1 billion profit on extravagant project
Extravagant development projects aimed at the
super rich are notoriously risky. Ill-conceived ideas are often implemented by developers high on the excesses of a property boom, only for their plans to come crashing down around them when the bubble bursts.
It is usually the failures like
the World in Dubai that make the headlines but today it is an unusual success story on the front pages.
One Hyde Park in Central London was derided when the plans were announced four years ago but today the project is on track to make its owners a cool £1 billion in profit.
50 of the 80 luxury apartments are now sold according to the Daily Telegraph. Joint owner, Nick Candy has repaid £900 million of the £1.1.billion borrowed from Eurohypo Bank and the balance will be repaid by the end of the month.
Prices on the project start at £6.5m for a one-bedroom flat and average around £6,000 per square foot. One of the penthouses was sold recently for around £135m to an unknown foreign tycoon who is has ordered an additional £50m of interior works.
The Candy Brothers have come a long way from their relatively humble beginnings. The brothers started out in property with a £6,000 loan from their grandmother which they used to renovate their first property in Earls Court in the early 1990’s.
With One Hyde Park, the brothers
got everything right. They created an exclusive, boutique luxury experience in a super-prime location. Whatever your opinion of its architecture, it has cache in its chosen market as well as real scarcity power.
Source: Global edge
User Comments
Everything we do in life has its ups and downs. You have to believe in what you are doing to be successful. Good job guys.
Ismael Jusino,
Absolute Homes Realty, LLC
These boys dared to dream and then made it happen! Well done them!!! Maybe they could write a book on how they did it!
Donna Potenza,
Mignon Potenza Real Estate