Foxtons founder sells flats through former rival
£50m site on London's Albert Embankment with planning permission will have 166 apartments plus retail and commercial units.
If you’re wondering what Foxtons founder Jon Hunt has been doing with the £375 million fortune he amassed after he sold the estate agent to venture capital firm BC Ventures ten years ago, then the answer is – property development.
Jon is currently selling a plot of land in Vauxhall, London that his property company Ocubis, which he owns through his development business Heven, recently gained planning permission for.
But rather than sell it through his old firm the development site, which is near the MI5 building at 34-36 Albert Embankment (pictured), is being sold by one of his former rivals in the sales market, Strutt & Parker, it has been reported.
Valued for sale at £50 million, the development is to include 166 apartments within two 25-storey towers but also include office and commercial units.
Planning development
The London Borough of Lambeth has granted detailed planning permission for the development, which will replace both a careworn Texaco garage and one of the Albert Embankment’s last Victorian warehouses, Vintage House.
As well as the two residential towers, the site will eventually include 22,000 sq ft of commercial space and 1,500 sq ft of retail, including a café.
The warehouse is to be retained and restored and the scheme, which has been designed by Make Architects, originally included plans for 200 apartments but was revised down to 170 and then 166 to incorporate larger apartments.
34-36 Albert Embankment is to include 48 affordable homes including nine social-rent properties, and 38 shared ownership units.
The development also reflects the changing nature of the London property market – the development’s original planning application revealed that its properties would be aimed at UK buyers, not overseas ones, and that it would marketed locally first.
