Ryan Corporation UK, the company owned by Irish property investor Tom Ryan, acquired a site on the business district located to the east of London for GBP 100 million. Citing sources, the Financial Times reported that the acquisition would be the first of a series of property investments in the UK by Ryan. On the site, the property investor plans to construct a 74-storey skyscraper. The proposed residential building will be higher than the tallest office building on Canary Wharf. The GBP 1 billion project is set to be taller than the loftiest office building in the business district by 5 meters.
Ryan intends to build a 242-meter on the site which is set to open in 2018. However, the Financial Times reported that Ryan would still need to get the permission of Tower Hamlets Council to build a housing development since the planning permission approved for the site was for a mixed-use development which would contain shops, offices and a hotel.
The development, called Hertsmere Tower, will have a premium price tag of at least GBP 1,000 per square foot. The new residential building aims to lure the largest earners in London to leave their traditional haunts in Knightsbridge and Mayfair and replace them with the eastern Docklands. Ryan Corporation UK Richard Berridge said they development will feature 714 apartments which would cover over half a million square feet.
Savills, a leading estate agent in the UK, had warned that the building frenzy in London would lead the housing market to overheat. Berridge, however, told the Financial Times that the company saw an opportunity instead. "Some people might be overawed by the scale but we see an opportunity. Canary Wharf is one of the few places in the UK where you can build a tall building. It's time for a very good residential building of a very high standard; that is something that has been lacking there until now."
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