Development Securities has appointed a receiver to repossess 399 Edgware Road.
Peter Virdee has failed to make the final £52m payment of the £68m deal after three deadline extansions.
DevSecs said: ‘We are now giving careful consideration to the options open to us to extract value from this property, including seeking an alternative planning consent, an operational partnership to re-open the existing building for retail activity or an outright sale.’
This announcement was made together with DevSecs annual results, which were otherwise predictably gloomy.
They revealed a 30% fall in net asset value and a loss before tax of £65.6 million for the year ended 31st December 2008, compared to £0.2 million profit for the previous year. They were also hit by valuation decreases of £66 million, and one-off charges including a £5.9 million repayment fee on a long-term loan, which has been re-financed at current lower rates, a £5.6 million charge in respect of interest rate instruments and a £2.8 million charge in relation to liabilities arising from the receivership of Stead & Simpson.
These reductions in net worth were mitigated by strong development profits of £22.9 million. The non-returnable deposit from Virdee won't damage their figures either.
They also report that although planning consent has been secured for an office/cinema/restaurant development on the 1.5-acre ammersmith Grove site in Hammersmith town centre immediately adjacent to the tube station, discussions on funding have yet to be completed.
