Foreign investors snap up London's iconic buildings
LONDON’S skyline has altered a lot in the last 30 years. While it can’t match Manhattan or Chicago, there are quite a few trophy buildings that can be seen from this columnist’s office window (for the moment*). The British sense of humour means these offices often acquire their own nicknames, regardless of the developer’s intentions—the Cheesegrater or the Gherkin, for example.
And the buildings also tend to get snapped up by foreign investors (see map). The latest to go is the “Walkie talkie” at 20, Fenchurch Street which has been bought by Lee Kum Kee, a Hong Kong food company, for £1.3bn, the highest amount ever paid for a British building. Presumably the company, best known for its oyster sauce, is not planning to transfer production to the site; this is a punt on the London property market.
Ironically, it was only a year ago that many Continue reading
