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Resolution Real Estate Properties has formed a €250m joint venture to invest in Copenhagen’s central business district.

The company, whichformed the joint venture with Saxo Properties, the property investment arm of Copenhagen-based Saxo Bank, will target residential, mixed use, residential and commercial buildings which would benefit from “intensive asset management”, including refurbishment and the repositioning of tenants.

The partnership said the new venture will have a life of three to five years “with the emphasis on income growth and capital gains.”

Robert Laurence, chief executive of Resolution Property said: “The stability of the underlying economy in Copenhagen, coupled with the opportunity to acquire good quality assets at levels representing a significant discount to their peak values, is of great appeal to us.”

de Morgan & Company of London, acted on behalf of Saxo Properties in the negotiations and Resolution Property was represented by Whitmarsh Holt Young along with local advisers’ including Plesner and Sadolin & Albæk.”

A GOLF course located off one of North East Lincolnshire’s most desirable streets could be sold off for housing as part of a long-term plan for a sports club’s future.

The freehold for Humberston Country Club is on the market, at just over £2.4-million, and the potential for redeveloping the nine-hole course is being highlighted to would-be investors.

But chartered surveyor Lawrence Brown, pictured, believes that the long-term plan wouldn’t mean houses “this time next year”.

Virgin Active has taken over the lease for the sports facility, having bought out fellow national operator Esporta in a £77-million deal in April. But plans for taking golf forward are not concrete, with the tennis and fitness facilities believed to be more in keeping with Sir Richard Branson’s existing portfolio.

The freehold was put on the market this month, with London-based Whitmarsh Holt Young instructed to market the 36.5-acres on behalf of current owner Standard Life Investments.

Details now being circulated underline the potential for the 18-year-old course, with lake, highlighting house prices on Humberston Avenue as a clear incentive, with space for hundreds of homes, subject to planning. They state that both Virgin and Standard Life have agreed the 32-acre course is surplus to requirements going forward, with an agreement in place for the landlord and tenant to share profits from any sale. While any move would be mid-to-long term, it could follow the loss of the nearby Humberston Park Golf Club, and comes as a major housing proposal has been recently revealed across the road.

A planning application for Keystone Developments’ 400-home scheme, featuring a retirement village and affordable housing, is believed to be imminent.

David Holt, a partner with Whitmarsh Holt Young, said: “The likelihood is we will get a passive investor who will buy the Virgin income for 17 years, and sit and do nothing with it. It is an attractive deal because there is a lot of land with it. This is just a selling point illustrating what could happen some time in the future. I don’t imagine anything happening soon.”

It is understood there are just under 100 golfing members, and that they are in discussion with Virgin over future membership charges, having initially been asked to pay the club’s full rate.

Virgin has confirmed to the Telegraph that there are, as yet, no definite plans for the future of golf. Another possibility is a third party taking on the golfing aspect.

A major rent review for the facility is looming, in 2013, which would impact on profitability for Virgin if the current position remains. Charges, currently waived in an 18-month window following the buy-out of Esporta, are expected to increase from £175,000 a year to at least £224,000, a near £50,000 uplift.

Chartered surveyor Lawrence Brown, of Scotts in Grimsby, said: “It is a corporate disposal by a pension fund which is clearly part of their ongoing strategy. They will be buying and selling property every day of the week and there is nothing untoward in this.

“Then there is the piece of land at the rear. It is very early in the process but there is always pressure in North East Lincolnshire for quality housing. The 400-home proposal opposite gives an indication of the emotive nature attracted to residential development. We won’t see houses this time next year; it is certainly a long-term strategy.”

Property Week

Tiger Developments has put its 9 Clifford Street office property in the West End up for sale for £18m.

The Irish property developer and investor has instructed Whitmarsh Holt Young to sell the W1 asset for a 3.76% yield.

It is understood that Tiger Developments, which is part of the O’Flynn Group, will recycle the proceeds of the sale into its development pipeline.

Total current passing rent in the 13,398 sq ft Grade II listed building is £716,912 pa, equating to £53.50 per sq ft. During the last Mayfair rental cycle in 2007 this building achieved £95 per sq ft on a part rear floor.

Ground to 4th floor, representing 91.2% of total income, is let to US law firm, Brown Rudnick for an unexpired term of 9.5 yrs without break. The lower ground floor is let to Tiger Developments on the same terms but with a personal tenant break option in 2017.

Clifford Street was built between 1719 and 1723 as part of the Burlington estate. No 9 was built in 1721 for the 25-year-old Earl of Harold, eldest son of the Duke of Kent.

It is the third property Tiger Developments has put up for sale in London in recent weeks. Also in W1, Tiger is selling 130 Jermyn Street for £45.6m, reflecting an initial yield of 5.9% and a capital value of £750 per sq ft. The long leasehold interest is being sold, with 112 years remaining and a 7.5% payaway to The Crown.

In the City, Tiger Developments has instructed Cushman & Wakefield to sell the multi-let St Michael House at 1 George Yard, EC3, for £12m, reflecting a yield of 6.15%.

Tiger bought Michael House in 2004 from Dunedin Property as part of a £170m portfolio of central London offices and regional parks. The portfolio comprised 500,000 sq ft, producing an annual rent of £12m, and also included 55 Moorgate, EC2, and 130 Jermyn Street, W1.

Southwark Council’s high profile headquarters building on Tooley Street has been put up for sale for £150m, CoStar News can reveal.

Niche investment agent Whitmarsh Holt Young was today instructed to sell the 205,236 sq ft office building at 160 Tooley Street, SE1, for a net initial yield of 5.04%.

The building is owned by private clients of HSBC Private Bank, which bought it from UBS Global Asset Management in June 2008.

The freehold interest in the property is being sold, which is held in a Guernsey Limited Company. The sale price allows for purchasers costs at 1.8% and a capital value of £730 per sq ft.

Southwark Council took occupation of the Allford Hall Monaghan Morris-designed building in 2009 after signing a 25-year lease without a break from 11 June 2008. The property is fully let to the council and The Mayor and Burgesses of the London Borough of Southwark for more than 20.5 years at a passing rent of £7.69m per annum, subject to five-yearly upward only rent reviews, and equating to a rent of £37.48 per sq ft. The next rent review is due on 24 June 2013.

UBS bought the development in June 2006 from Great Portland Estates, which developed the building to the highest environmental standards. The building comprises 192,358 sq ft of offices, 2,819 sq ft of residential, and 10,059 sq ft of retail space on the ground floor.

The building is the latest prime development to be brought to market in the Southbank which, is currently undergoing a transformation. The Southbank has long been seen as a significant cultural core and is home to the likes of The National Theatre, The Globe Theatre, Tate Modern and the White Cube Gallery.

The area has seen a number of high profile developments fly up, such as The Shard, and the wider London Bridge Quarter, More London, and the Blue Fin building.

160 Tooley Street occupies a freehold site bound by Shand Street to the West and Burnham Street to the East.

The offices have achieved a BREEAM rating of “very good”, and the building was designed to run efficiently to reduce costs to the occupier and has been hailed by CIRIA as one of the most efficient commercial project in London.

Southwark Council has completed the purchase of its own headquarters at 160 Tooley Street for £170m, as revealed by Propertyweek.com.

The council has bought the high profile office building from HSBC Private Bank for £170m – £20m over the asking price – reflecting a net initial yet of 4.25%.

The council, advised by GVA, beat interest from overseas investment funds for the 205,236 sq ft building, which was put up for sale through agent Whitmarsh Holt Young in November.

A report for the council cabinet outlines the rational for buying the building, which is being paid for using the council’s internal funds.

“We currently pay £7.7m each year in rent on our council headquarters at 160 Tooley Street, and this figure is likely to increase through rent reviews,” the report said. “The terms of our lease continue to 2033, without a break clause.

Tony Joyce, regional senior director at GVA, said: “Our City agency team and Neil Dovey of our investment team worked together to secure a major transaction in just seven days. If there is a willingness on both sides, large scale transactions do not have to get bogged down in red tape. Southwark Council is a forward looking authority with the ability to make rapid, sensible decisions, which was reflected in the nature of this purchase.”

A private client of Ahli United Bank is to sell a 2.4-acre development site in Wandsworth with planning consent for a 193-unit residential scheme, CoStar News can reveal.

The bank’s client has instructed niche agent Whitmarsh Holt Young to sell Westfield House, a 79,060 sq ft warehouse in Earlsfield which has been earmarked for an 185,000 sq ft residential redevelopment.

The site is to be sold with full vacant possession and is likely to attract the interest of some of the UK’s biggest housebuilders with an appetite for ‘oven-ready’ development sites.

The development will be 20% affordable housing, 85% of which will be for shared ownership use. Market sources said the site is likely to sell for more than £25m.

The consent also includes 2,152 sq ft of A3 café space and basement parking for 152 cars and 230 bicycles.

Planned regeneration of Wandsworth town centre, notably the Ram Brewery, has led to the area becoming an investment hotspot for those buying in the capital.

There are two current implementable planning consents for the Westfield House site. The first is the 2012 renewal of a 2009 permission for 195 units with 27% affordable housing. The most recent consent is the 2012 permission for 193 units with 20% affordable housing.

The scheme will be arranged over three buildings of between three and five storeys.

The S106 payment of £433,000 has been settled by the vendor, meaning no further financial contribution is required.

Detailed planning consent for the site was received prior to the introduction of Wandsworth Borough Council’s CIL. A contribution to the GLA Mayoral CIL is payable.

Until recently the Westfield House site was used as a government file storage depot. Thought to have been built in the 1950s, it comprises a single storey warehouse of steel frame construction with a three-storey office block to the front of the building.

The office adds to the group’s growing midtown portfolio, joining existing properties at Baldwin Gardens, Greville Street, Chancery Lane, Clerkenwell Workshops and Exmouth House.

The building provides 42,000 sq ft of space and was acquired at a capital value of £433/sq ft. The current average rent is £26/sq ft and the building is fully occupied by seven tenants.

Jamie Hopkins, chief executive officer of Workspace, said: “New and growing businesses are increasingly attracted to the Midtown area of London and with the additional benefit of Crossrail, we are confident that Verulam House will provide an opportunity for growth in the future.”

The group also posted a strong set of half year results this morning, with profit before tax at £100.8m for the half year to 31 March 2013. In September 2012 it was £24.6m

Its adjusted trading profit after interest was also up 10% to £9.7m

Sunley Group has exchanged contracts to buy Harcourt House on Cavendish Square for around £75m from LaSalle Investment Management for a residential scheme.

The purchase is above the asking price of £60m, reflecting a yield of around 3%, and is thought to have been made through special purpose vehicle Harcourt Investments.

Originally developed in 1907 as a residential mansion block, Harcourt House has since been converted into a number of residential, office and medical suites.

The eight-storey Edwardian building overlooks the square, with 56,562 sq ft of commercial space and 7,419 of residential.

A review conducted by Brimelow McSweeney Architects for prospective buyers proposed a residential scheme that could reach around 74,000 sq ft of floor space and a total of 76 new residential dwellings.

The building is let to 17 tenants, with full vacant possession is available in December 2015.

Sunley is a privately-owned family business, established in the 1920s, and continues to operate in London and the south of England.

Over the years, it has been involved in a number of landmark overseas developments including the Dubai International Trade & Exhibition Centre in Abu Dhabi in 1979.

Nick Howitt, director at LaSalle Investment Management said: “We can confirm that LaSalle Investment Management has sold its 63,000 sq ft residential asset, Harcourt House. We are delighted to have been able to capitalise on the continuing momentum of London’s residential market, at a level that reflects the building’s premium potential.”

Whitmarsh Holt Young, Jones Lang LaSalle and Savills acted for LaSalle Investment Management on the sale. Tudor Toone represented the purchaser.